Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

GoGaslightYerself t1_j2dawds wrote

Are they saying that the object orbits the Earth for a while until all the planets align right, then leaves Earth orbit to orbit the Sun, then orbits the Sun for a while until all the planets align right, then returns to orbit the Earth again?

If so, that's wild. What are the chances? Seems like that's the kind of thing you couldn't pull off if you tried!

−1

Anubis17_76 OP t1_j2dl3ex wrote

no its just in an unstable orbit, so it flies around the earth a bit, until it dips over the L1 point(where the Suns gravity outweighs the earths, so it leaves for a sun orbit) and then it returns back to earth orbit after a few laps round the sun. heres an animation: https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/images/j002e3/j002e3.gif

1