Throughput: Zoozve Edition

Photo by Jet Propulsion Laboratory. California Institute of Technology, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

[ThTh1] So a couple of weeks ago, writer Latif Nasser made a discovery on a poster on his child’s wall. Click through to read the entire saga.

Last January, I noticed something peculiar in my 2yo’s bedroom that – after a year of obsessive reporting – led me to a profound cosmic revelation about what’s even possible in our universe. A 🧵. pic.twitter.com/pHFStIdawh

— Latif Nasser (@latifnasser) January 26, 2024

So, to summarize: the poster showed that the planet venus has a moon called “Zoozve”. Venus does not actually have any moons so he decided to track it down, eventually roping in astrophysicist Liz Landau for help. Halfway through, I realized where this was going: while Venus does not have any moons it does have a “pseudo-moon”, a body that has a similar orbit around the Sun and so appears, from Venus’ perspective, to be in orbit around it. The objects is named 2002-VE and someone has mistakenly transliterated those numbers into letters. Hence “zoozve”

Pseudo-moons, or more accurately quasi-satellites, are fascinating objects and we now suspect that basically every planet in the Solar System has them. Earth has seven at the current moment. They are somewhat similar to the Trojan and Greek asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit, 60 degrees before and behind the planet. The combination of Jupiter’s gravity and the Sun’s makes those gravitationally stable point — what we call Lagrange points. In the case of quasi-satellites, they are not at Legrange points — although they can shift back and forth between that and quasi-moon. Instead, they orbit the Sun in a way that makes them appear to be in orbit around the Earth, even though they technically aren’t.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory put together a great movie showing how these objects work when they announced the discovery of 2016 HO3. Note that the yellow orbit is not centered on Earth, it’s centered on the Sun. It just appears to be moving around the Earth from our perspective, kind of a like a car you keep seeing in a traffic jam. The other driver isn’t actually following you, just moving with the same flow.

To illustrate the difference between pseudo-satellites and actual satellites, contrast Earth’s Moon and 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, our closest quasi-satellite. The Moon has been in orbit around Earth since its formation and will remain in orbit until Earth is consumed by the dying Sun. Kamoʻoalewa has only recently gotten close to us and will probably cease to be a quasi-satellite in the next few centuries. The Moon is 250,000 miles away and is well within Earth’s gravitational influence. Kamoʻoalewa never gets closer than 13 times that distance is never within Earth’s gravitational influence. Its motion is always dominated by the gravity of the Sun.

To make a political analogy, a quasi-satellite is kind of like Chris Christie. It appears to be in orbit around a larger object but drifts in and out, never gets terribly close and is doomed to be eventually kicked out into the cold uncaring Solar System to fend for itself.

In an interesting wrinkle, it now appears that 2002VE will be renamed Zoozve in honor of Nasser’s viral thread. Which means that Latif Nasser’s son, at age 2, has made a bigger impact on astronomical history than I have at age 51.

[ThTh2] Through some amazing work, we’re now able to read carbonized scrolls from Herculaneum (the other city besides Pompeii that was destroyed when Vesuvius exploded). So far, they’re philosophical texts. Which is a relief, since the area was known for … uh, more salacious stuff.

[ThTh3] Speaking of sex, a growing body of evidence is showing the anti-porn, anti-masturbation movement is based on junk science and bigotry and is likely leading to poorer physical and mental health. Not that this will matter to the people shoving unconstitutional bans and identity checks on the internet in the name of public health.

[ThTh4] Fake scientific papers are becoming an epidemic in certain fields. It will not surprise you that the epicenter of this is China, where promotions and entire careers hinge on having published papers.

[ThTh5] And speaking of free speech, a great post from FIRE President Greg Lukianoff explains why free speech is critical, with an illustration from the pseudoscience of Lysenkoism.

[ThTh6] One of the most volcanically active bodies in the solar system is Jupiter moon Io. Here’s som infrared imaging of the surface from Juno.

#JUNO #Jupiter orbiter #JIRAM
Perijove 51 on #IO new data

NASA/JPL/SwRI/JIRAM/ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI ASTROFISICA/j. Roger pic.twitter.com/f5WFQztKUT

— landru79 (@landru79) February 3, 2024

[ThTh7] I am endlessly fascinated by boat wakes. If I’m on one, I will stare in the wake for long periods, feeling at one with the universe.

Testing a new ship hull design

[📹 edinburghdesigns]pic.twitter.com/mkQwbIAic1

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 4, 2024

[ThTh8] Dengue fever infects hundreds of millions per year and kills tens of thousands. A new vaccine is showing huge promise in getting this killer under control.