Just for a Short Time: Earth Gets an Extra 'Mini-Moon'

“Little Moon” is that. Asteroids “2024 PT5”. This is unusual for an asteroid, as it… From September 29 to November 5 It is captured by the Earth's gravity.

Then it will accompany the Earth for about eight weeks and in one week horseshoe path Moving around the planet, the researchers reported in the American Astronomical Society's “Research Notes.”

2024 PT5 was spotted using ground-based telescopes in early August. The piece only about ten meters big.

“The discovery of 2024 PT5 reminds us that there is a fairly busy highway around the Earth,” said astrophysicist Federica Spoto.

Part of the moon?

The fact that the asteroid is beginning a two-month orbit around Earth is capped off by a curious detail: The rock is said to be a piece of ejecta from a collision with the moon. It could be a temporary mini-moon. Part of the actual moon He is.

Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos of the Complutense University of Madrid explain in “Research Notes” that it is likely to be a so-called Arjuna asteroid with an Earth-like orbit around the Sun. It is an artificial object like space junk Unlikely due to its trajectory.

In the coming months, those dreaming of mining raw materials in space may look to the sky in particular with longing. “Every time there’s talk of mining asteroids, it’s about small moons,” Spoto told The New York Times. mineral rich rockswhich orbits the Earth, would be a good target for prospectors.

Similar visitors to “2024 PT5” have already been recorded several times: in 1981 and 2022, for example, “2022 NX1”, as noted in the “Research Notes”. It will return in 2051.

“2024 PT5” visits Earth this year 2055 Next time.