An asteroid survey has found an odd, apparently artificial, object in an unusual, and highly eccentric orbit of Earth. It's been given the provisional designation: S509356. The object has a apogee at roughly half the distance of the Moon, and a perigee near geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles out. It's inclination is about 48 degrees to the plane of Earth's rotation.

It's been suggested that this could be the remnant of one of our space missions that was somehow lost track of, over the years. Perhaps one that did not deploy as intended, or that has drifted from its intended orbit.

The inclination seems high for a satellite intended for geosynchronous orbit, or even for a Moon mission. Could several decades of travel. and interactions with the Sun, Earth, and Moon have altered its inclination to this extent, apparently about 48 degrees for a geosynchronous mission, or around 17 degrees for a Lunar one?

Link to report of object's discovery:

http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Apr-2016/0082.html

S509356
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Asteroid surveys have spotted an unknown Earth satellite, provisionally
designated S509356, in a 30000 x 152000 km x 48 deg orbit. Looking
at my historical lists, it might be an object associated with the Vela
launches, although it's surprising it's only being spotted now.
The region beyond GEO is poorly tracked by satellite surveillance
systems but in recent years coverage by asteroid searchers has been
fairly good.

http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html

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The April 8th report has the apogee of this object at 30,000 km, perigee 152,000 km.

The April 13th report makes it: apogee 36,978 km, perigee 160,825 km.

The latter is presumably more accurate, as they've had more time to make accurate determinations, and the figures are not rounded, as in the first report.

The identification of this object with one of the Vela satellites remains an open question.

The current orbits of two of these is known. They both have apogees of 178,000 km, and perigees of 58,000 km.

The orbital inclination of these same two Vela satellites is given as 39.1 and 35.2 degrees.

The inclination of S509356 is about 48 degrees.

The magnitude of S509356 is typically given as between about 13.4 and 14.4. That puts it within reach of very many telescopes in the hands of serious amateur astronomers.

It's surprising that this object hasn't been reported before. That is, assuming this really is an old satellite, rocket stage, or space junk that's been making the rounds for quite some time.

It ain't "the black knight" making a appearance again is it ?

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