Soon after 2003 WT₁₅₃ was discovered by the 1.8m Spacewatch-Telescope on Kitt Peak, it became clear that the orbit of this unusual object looks much like a transfer orbit from Earth to Venus. The estimated diameter of several meters only is also compatible with a man-made object. In fact, Paul Chodas from JPL has suggested that 2003 WT₁₅₃ may be the Shuttle interstage rocket that launched the Galileo space probe on its way towards Venus, taking a gravtiy assist manouver on it's way to Jupiter. That link, however, is somewhat uncertain, and there remains a 50% chance that 2003 WT₁₅₃ is a natural object, whose perihelion- and aphelion-distance has been shifted close to the orbits of Venus and Earth due to multiple encounters with these planets. The objects has a small chance of colliding with the Earth during a number of future encounters with our home planet, but -- no matter if it is man-made or not -- it is probably too small do cause any damage on the ground.

Credit & Copyright: Erich Meyer, Davidschlag Observatory, Austria

The image shown here is a three minute exposure taken by Erich Meyer at the Davidschlag Observatory near Linz, Austria, witha a SBIG ST-6 CCD camera at a 0.6m f/3.3 reflector. The image was taken on 2003 November 30, just as 2003 WT₁₅₃ was passing only 0.0045 AU (673.000 km) from Earth. The telescope was tracking the 18^mag object, which was moving at 90"/minute, so the stars on this image appear trailed, while 2003 WT₁₅₃ can be seen as a small dot in the center of the frame. The tiny object was observed over 60 hours only, and Meyer's obersvations from December 1, which show the object faded to 19^mag, were the last observations before 2003 WT₁₅₃ disappeared from our view.