i mean- 1. it switches places with neptune and 2. its on a 17 degree incline. what other celestial object in our system does anything as cool as that with its orbit?
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Personally, I find the [orbits of the] quasi-satellites known as 3753 Cruithne & 2010 SO16 much more interesting than those of most comets or Kuiper Belt objects like Pluto.
These two quasi-satellites are sometimes referred to as "Earth's Other Moons" as they share Earth's orbit around the Sun and have fairly long-term stable orbits. They appear to be captured by interactions with Earth's gravity sometimes preceding Earth in its orbit, sometimes following the planet, but never passing by it. Their orbits are much more complex than that of Pluto's.
You can read the details and see animations of these bodies and their orbits at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruith…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_SO16
EDIT:
Adjustor: Thank you for the kind acknowledgement.
These two quasi-satellites are sometimes referred to as "Earth's Other Moons" as they share Earth's orbit around the Sun and have fairly long-term stable orbits. They appear to be captured by interactions with Earth's gravity sometimes preceding Earth in its orbit, sometimes following the planet, but never passing by it. Their orbits are much more complex than that of Pluto's.
You can read the details and see animations of these bodies and their orbits at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruith…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_SO16
EDIT:
Adjustor: Thank you for the kind acknowledgement.
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our solar system has billions and billions of orbits, not just the 9 planets. there are also countless asteroids, meteors, and comets. comets really have the most interesting orbit because it's highly elliptical. they come rushing towards the sun, and turn in a relatively tight radius around it, before zooming back billions of miles out of the solar system, and their speeds are much greater than anything else that moves around our sun. so that's what i call the most interesting.
the most interesting dwarf planet? possibly, but probably not. there are more and more dwarf planets being discovered all the time and the estimates of how many are out there in the kaiper belt are astonishing. the odds of there being another one with a similar, or even more bizarre, orbit than pluto are quite high as kaiper belt objects are susceptible to orbit changes from colliding objects.
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@skyhiker22: I was not aware of these objects until he mentioned them. upon looking into them i have realized that they are indeed much more interesting than anything else i'm aware of in our solar system. haha
the most interesting dwarf planet? possibly, but probably not. there are more and more dwarf planets being discovered all the time and the estimates of how many are out there in the kaiper belt are astonishing. the odds of there being another one with a similar, or even more bizarre, orbit than pluto are quite high as kaiper belt objects are susceptible to orbit changes from colliding objects.
EDIT:
@skyhiker22: I was not aware of these objects until he mentioned them. upon looking into them i have realized that they are indeed much more interesting than anything else i'm aware of in our solar system. haha
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No. What may the most interesting anything to you may be entirely different for some one else. To be very blunt, this is what I call a BS question. What about the orbits of Haumea , Malemake, Varuna, and Qauoar? They are highly eccentric too. Each is unique and equally fascinating while sharing the common property of an highly eccentric orbit. The eccentric orbits of dwarf planets are not as highly eccentric as comets with closed elliptical orbits.
http://www.windows2universe.org/our_sola…
http://www.windows2universe.org/our_sola…
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Well most comets that enter into our solar system pass through many orbits and then leave beyond our solar system only to return decades later.
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Try this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna