WASHINGTON, SEPT 29 – Earth’s moon will have a mini moon for a while.
The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus, at 33 feet (10 meters). When it orbits Earth today, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity, but only for about two months.
The space rock, known as PT5 2024, was first spotted in August by astronomers at the Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa.
This temporary mini-moon phenomenon may be more common than we realize, said Richard Binzel, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The last known one was spotted in 2020.
“This happens with some frequency, but we rarely see it because it is very small and very difficult to detect,” he said. “Only recently have our survey capabilities reached the point where we can detect them routinely.”
The discovery by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos was published by the American Astronomical Society.
The asteroid won’t be visible to the naked eye or through amateur telescopes, but it “can be observed with large, dedicated research telescopes,” Carlos de la Fuente Marcos said in an email.
The mini moon will circle the earth for almost 57 days but will not complete a full orbit. On November 25, it will part ways with Earth and continue its solo trajectory through the cosmos. It is expected to pass again in 2055. – AP
