Newly discovered asteroid turns out to be Tesla Roadster launched into space – IOTW Report

Newly discovered asteroid turns out to be Tesla Roadster launched into space

Monday, 27 January 2025, 10:00 MJA Uncategorized 19

FOX: Elon Musk’s sense of humor is out of this world. 

Seven years after the SpaceX CEO launched a Tesla Roadster into orbit, astronomers from the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts confused it with an asteroid earlier this month. 

A day after the astronomers with the Minor Planet Center registered 2018 CN41, it was deleted on Jan. 3 when they revealed that it was in fact Musk’s roadster. 

The center said on its website that 2018 CN41’s registry was deleted after “it was pointed out the orbit matches an artificial object, 2018-017A, Falcon Heavy Upper stage with the Tesla Roadster. The designation2018 CN41 is being deleted and will be listed as omitted.” more

19 Comments on Newly discovered asteroid turns out to be Tesla Roadster launched into space

  1. I don’t know, sending junk into space seems kind of obnoxious to me. Why do humans have to leave their trash everywhere? I don’t care how vast the universe is, too much hubris is not a good trait.

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  6. I may not have a PhD in stargazing but I’m feeling a bit smarter this Monday morning, and am going to congratulate myself each time I can properly distinguish between a used car and a rock today.

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  7. It’s not in Earth’s orbit, it’s in orbit around the Sun. That’s why it got mistaken for a asteroid, the motion vs the background stars is the same as an asteroid. Unless they did a maneuver to give it separation, it will probably intersect Earth orbit every few hundred or thousand years, with a small possibility that it will reenter and burn up. Otherwise, it’s long term space junk. At least there’s a LOT more room in solar orbit than in low Earth orbit.

    What’s sad is… The people that do the near Earth asteroid hunting spend years hoping to submit one of those reports to the MPC. Weeks of phototograhy & interpretation, measuring the relative motion vs the stars, some rather serious math to deduce the orbital parameters. It would be a major downer to do all that only to be told you found some rich guy’s discarded Tesla.

    KR

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  10. I worry that sending that much weight away from Mother Gaia will eventually result in an imbalance in rotation, much like when all the socks clump up in the washmachine spin cycle. All the dishes in the cupboard will rattle and the cat will freak out.

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  12. If there’s a Tesla up there in solar orbit for virtually forever, I sure hope there are a couple of eco-nazi progs up there with it. Exiling a breeding pair would be especially sweet!

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  14. @SNS,

    If I remember correctly there was a spacesuit in the driver’s seat when they launched it. I don’t know for sure, but that scene was likely the inspiration.

    I am getting sick of all the clips of Gen X culture on YT getting ED ad’s included. Sheesh… Makes me worry about what happens in 10 years… “Best replacement heart valve, now available on Amazon Prime”…

    KR

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  16. Kali Refugee in Texas
    Monday, 27 January 2025, 13:33 at 1:33 pm
    “…Makes me worry about what happens in 10 years… “Best replacement heart valve, now available on Amazon Prime”…”

    …considering how far down the Canadian Health Care road the whole world has already gone and the fact that even President Trump keeps pushing that vile mRNA, I think it’s MUCH more likely the ads will be along the lines of “Don’t be a burden to your family, choose new Suicide® TODAY!”.

    …Judging by the posters in the doctor’s office, coming soon to a healthcare facility near YOU…

    https://www.danspapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/MJHS-End-of-Life-Planning_Infographic-1.png?resize=1200,1200

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  19. I can remember when there were very few satellites in the sky above the earth in the early 60’s. I remember seeing one from my grandfather’s farm in Adrian, Oregon a tiny town in eastern Oregon on the Snake River just across the river from Idaho, late one night and marveling at it in complete darkness.

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