http://www.mandatory.com/2012/07/30/10-unexplained-space-mysteries/1
A space probe of unknown origin is circling around earth. It is called 1991 VG.
In late 1991 a strange object approached and passed within celestial spitting distance of the Earth, causing surprise, and some disquiet, among astronomers before vanishing back into the depths of space. The object was catalogued as “1991 VG,” and to this day it remains a mystery.
Spotted on November 6, 1991, by astronomer Jim Scotti, 1991 VG was initially thought to be an NEO—a Near Earth Object, probably an asteroid, of which there are many that periodically pass by too close for comfort and of which the public is blissfully unaware. At the time of discovery, 1991 VG was approximately 2,046,000 miles from Earth and heading inbound rapidly. Scotti, who was tracking with the small Spacewatch telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona, described it as a “fast- moving asteroidal object.”
Continued observation revealed that the object did not appear to be an asteroid, or at least it didn’t behave like one. For instance, it had a tendency to “wink”: to become roughly three times brighter, then dark again, every seven and one-half minutes, behavior akin to that of a rotating artificial satellite. This led to speculation that 1991 VG was perhaps an expended rocket booster drifting through interplanetary space, maybe even an old Saturn V booster from the Apollo moon-launch days of the late 1960s and early ’70s.
Read more: WWW.Anomalies.com
A space probe of unknown origin is circling around earth. It is called 1991 VG.
In late 1991 a strange object approached and passed within celestial spitting distance of the Earth, causing surprise, and some disquiet, among astronomers before vanishing back into the depths of space. The object was catalogued as “1991 VG,” and to this day it remains a mystery.
Spotted on November 6, 1991, by astronomer Jim Scotti, 1991 VG was initially thought to be an NEO—a Near Earth Object, probably an asteroid, of which there are many that periodically pass by too close for comfort and of which the public is blissfully unaware. At the time of discovery, 1991 VG was approximately 2,046,000 miles from Earth and heading inbound rapidly. Scotti, who was tracking with the small Spacewatch telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona, described it as a “fast- moving asteroidal object.”
Continued observation revealed that the object did not appear to be an asteroid, or at least it didn’t behave like one. For instance, it had a tendency to “wink”: to become roughly three times brighter, then dark again, every seven and one-half minutes, behavior akin to that of a rotating artificial satellite. This led to speculation that 1991 VG was perhaps an expended rocket booster drifting through interplanetary space, maybe even an old Saturn V booster from the Apollo moon-launch days of the late 1960s and early ’70s.
Read more: WWW.Anomalies.com
