The Earth is to have a second ‘mini-moon’ set to orbit our planet for about two months this autumn which is an asteroid that will be visible by telescope when it drops into orbit
Stargazers will have the rare chance to see a second moon orbiting the Earth this autumn.
Earth’s new mini-moon will be a small asteroid that’s expected to orbit Earth for around two months before heading back to a belt following our planet and circling the sun.
From September 29, the 33-foot-wide asteroid 2024 PT5 will move around the Earth until November 25 but it will remain close for a few months after this. NASA spotted the space rock using its Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on August 7.
The asteroid will be visible using telescopes when it drops into orbit. Asteroids are usually very small and hard to detect, while there have only been a few mini-moons discovered and none are still orbiting earth – with some of these space debris, according to the Planetary Society.
Small asteroids get trapped in Earth’s gravitational field when they pass within 28 million miles of the planet. Researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid determined that PT5 will start circling the Earth after analysing its trajectory.
Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) told the New York Times that 2024 PT5 is “possibly a piece of ejecta from an impact on the moon”. That would mean it isn’t a new moon, but a broken off piece of our current moon.
2024 PT5 is following a path similar to 2022 NX1, which was trapped in Earth orbit in 2022. 2024 PT5 will count as a mini-moon if it completes a full orbit of the Earth. A mini-moon is a small asteroid or natural object that temporarily gets captured by Earth’s gravity, entering into an orbit around the planet.
Unlike the Earth’s main moon, mini-moons are typically much smaller and don’t stay in orbit for long periods. They can remain in Earth’s gravitational influence for weeks, months, or even a few years before either escaping back into space or burning up in the atmosphere.
These objects are rare and difficult to detect because of their small size, usually only a few meters in diameter. A mini-moon can be thought of as a temporary natural satellite of Earth. One example of a mini-moon is 2020 CD3, which was captured by Earth in 2018 and orbited the planet until 2020 before leaving orbit.
