Earth Has Other Moons, Astronomers Say
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/21/earth-has-other-moons-astronomer-says/
I almost didn’t read this because the title seems so nonsensical on its surface, but since the definition of a moon is unfixed, it actually turns out that this is a very interesting science article. It seems the Earth will periodically (but almost continuously, it seems) capture stray asteroids as they wander about the solar system. The asteroids will then orbit the Earth/Moon system for a few years before being cast off (probably to be recaptured again in some future time). Given NASA’s desire to explore asteroids, this would appear to be the key quote:
…the other major thing on NASA’s list of things to do is send astronauts to an asteroid.
“The scientific potential of being able to first remotely characterize a meteoroid and then visit and bring it back to Earth would be unprecedented,”
…
