"In effect, this small asteroid is caught in a little dance with Earth," Chodas said. Indeed, 2016 HO3 is the best example of an Earth quasi-satellite ever found, scientists said. The newly discovered asteroid 2016 HO3 orbits the sun in such a way that the space rock never strays too far from Earth, making it a "quasi-satellite" of our planet, scientists say. This dance is not dangerous: 2016 HO3 poses no threat to the planet, NASA officials said. 2016 HO3's orbit is tilted slightly relative to that of Earth, so the asteroid also bobs up and down through our planet's orbital plane.

Source: Fox News June 17, 2016 04:52 UTC