For last 100 years or so, Earth has celestial companion

Our planet has a celestial companion for the past 100 years or so,flying through the cosmos in an orbit around the sun that has kept it in lockstep with Earth. It has been called as a new ‘mini moon’ by some experts. In the scientific community, the ‘quasi-satellite’ is named as 2016HO3. It is around 120 to 300 feet across, as per NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers. Technically, the asteroid has been orbiting the sun, but it is apparently circling our planet as well, which makes it the most stable instance of a space companion discovered so far. In a statement, Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said that another asteroid 2003 YN107 followed a similar orbital pattern for some time over last decade, but since then, it has departed our vicinity. Chodas added, “This new asteroid is much more locked onto us. Our calculations indicate 2016 HO3 has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and it will continue to follow this pattern as Earth's companion for centuries to come”.NASA said that scientific skygazers discovered 2016 HO3 back in April with the help of the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii. Its annual orbit keeps it nearer to the sun roughly half the time, but the rest of the time, it flies through space maintaining pace with us. Chodas added that the loops of the asteroid around our planet drift slightly ahead or behind from year to year, but the time they flow quite far forward or backward, the gravity of Earth is sufficiently strong to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid. A report published in News Wire said, "The Earth has a small companion that has accompanied it on its path around the Sun for almost a hundred years now, NASA astronauts have discovered. Although the actual size of the 2016 HO3 asteroid has not yet been firmly established, the object is considerably small at approximately 120 to 300 feet across, and is constantly orbiting the Earth, like a "quasi-moon", since it mimics the movement of the moon."Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object (NEO) Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, explained that calculations indicate that the 2016 HO3 has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and it will continue to follow this pattern as Earth's companion for centuries to come. It was first discovered on April 27, 2016, using a telescope Pan-STARRS 1 from the University of Hawaii at Haleakala National Park, and funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. This is not the first discovery of an object that follows the Earth. The asteroid 2003 YN107 followed a similar orbital pattern for a while over 10 years ago, but it has since departed our vicinity. This new asteroid is much more locked onto us, NASA expert Paul Chodas explained. According to a story published on the topic by Inverse, "In the upcoming sequel to the 1996 summer blockbuster Independence Day, a massive alien force comes to Earth to avenge losses sustained at Will Smith’s hand 20 years earlier. Aware that this might happen, the planet has spent the previous two decades preparing: creating Earth Space Defense, an international defense program and warning system with bases on the moon, Mars, and Saturn’s moon Rhea, and a lot of laser guns built using repurposed alien technology. The whole thing looks very Hollywood high budget, but, in reality, it represents a paltry effort."Defending Earth from alien invaders will require a lot more than some outposts and a Hemsworth brother. Still, even that’s better than what we’ve got. As it stands, we possess neither of the two things we’d need to repel an extraterrestrial attack: a system to find and assess alien threats and a means to destroy incoming ships. We’re way closer on the former than the latter. Tracking technologies, like the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer space telescope, would let us know if an alien battalion were en route to Earth long before it reached the planet — provided the aliens were in a pretty big ship and traveling slow enough to give us time to parse the patterns. The issue with WISE,from a strategic defense perspective, is just how easy it would be for aliens to destroy. It is a scientific instrument and, as such, not designed to be combat ready.