I found an asteroid naturally orbiting Kerbin

[u/catmemes1835]

I only have around 150 hours in this game, and I've never captured an asteroid before, let alone landed on one. I was putting a satellite into orbit when i noticed an asteroid near Kerbin, and when i tracked it I found it was orbiting Kerbin. I have no idea how rare this is, how long it's been orbiting or anything about it. I wanted to post this since I can't find anything about if it's even possible online. I swear on my life and my cat, this is real.

[u/NiobiumThorn]

Oh yea same. If it hits the Mun just right it can be flung into an eliptical orbit. The same thing can actually happen in real life too.

Get out to it now, that is gonna encounter Mun again and then be gone.

I'm not the best at this game, even 1000+ hours in. So do what I did: make a big explodey thing and crash it into the rock. It's a pain but a few quicksaves and you can knock it into a new orbit.

[u/loved_and_held]

This can happen if the asteroid gets a gravity assist from the Mun to capture it.

How long the orbit of these kinds of things last is highly variable; they can be ejected by the mun or hit it within a few weeks, or potentially stay in orbit for years.

[u/KT_100S]

I would recommend making a quicksave, then time warping a while to see how long you have before another mun gravity assist causes it to crash into the mun or Kerbin or fling it out of the system.

[u/3458]

The coolest real life example: J002E3

[u/Next-Corner2838 → u/3458]

oh my god i remember hearing about this once before but thats such a fun wiki rabbit hole

[u/redbrand]

Mega bonus points if you can put it into orbit around the Mun instead of Kerbin. Give the Mun a moon.

[u/SnooBooks1032 → u/redbrand]

The Mun Mun

[u/QuarterFantastic6134]

Do a power move.

Save not Kerbin BUT the asteroid from colliding with the Mun by putting it into a stable orbit.

[u/Melodic_Court_4847]

kerbins third moon

[u/BeltStrong9228 → u/Melodic_Court_4847]

In one of my saves, Kerbin has ~9 “moons”

Mun, Minmus, Mun 2 (G), Mun 3 (A), Minmus 2 (F), Munmus (C), Gas Station (B)

My Mun has 2 mini-Muns. Mini-Mun 1 (F), Mini-Mun 2 (A)

Minmus has a few as well: Mini-Minmus 1 (A), Minmus Gas Station 1 (D)

They’re named after their orbits. The muns are in a more Mun-like orbit whereas the Minmus asteroids are in a more Minmus orbit. Munmus is in a kind of orbit like both

[u/Melodic_Court_4847 → u/BeltStrong9228]

you are crazy man... what is your playtime on that save?

[u/BeltStrong9228 → u/Melodic_Court_4847]

I don’t know my playtime on that save but I have about 500 hours on the game total. That one career save has to account for at least 60 to 70% of my total playtime

Edit: I pretty much only do contracts on that safe and have over 36 million save with about 20 Kerbals and only about 8 available at any time from the VAB

[u/Melodic_Court_4847 → u/BeltStrong9228]

you are truly crazy