On Sept. 19, SPACE.com reported that the hunk of junk would escape Earths gravitational influence.

In observations since then, the object has not been where researchers predicted it should be. The reason: Solar radiation is gently pushing the object to a faster pace. The increased speed would not be achieved if the object were a space rock, whose reflective properties are much different than solid metal.

Scientists have long known that solar radiation affects that path of things in space. In fact, some have suggested that by painting an incoming asteroid white, they could cause it to be diverted by sunlight and avoid a catastrophic impact with Earth.

The amount of J002E3s acceleration "matches very well with what we would expect" for a rocket booster, say Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas, two scientists at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory who usually spend their time studying asteroids. The researchers have been modeling the trajectory of J002E3 since it was first spotted Sept. 3 and thought, initially, to be an asteroid that had been captured into orbit by Earth.

The researchers used the new information to project the objects orbit back in time more accurately, allowing them to "discover" it on archived photos. They then projected its orbit forward in time more accurately. There had been a slight chance, according to a computer simulation, that it would hit the Moon or Earth.

"It is now certain that J002E3 will depart the Earth-Moon system in June 2003 and that there is no possibility of an impact for several decades," the researchers said in a statement. "In the years ahead J002E3 may be recaptured, but the first opportunity for this will not be until the mid-2040s."

Meanwhile, the hunk of metal will orbit the Sun on roughly the same path as Earth.