This year, a small asteroid will start to orbit Earth, giving us a second moon for roughly two months.
The asteroid was found in August and is scheduled to turn into a miniature moon by making a horseshoe-shaped orbit around Earth between September 29 and November 25.
Researchers at NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System discovered the asteroid using an instrument in Sutherland, South Africa, and named it 2024 PT5.
Scientists at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid studied the asteroid’s orbit for 21 days and calculated its future route.
According to their findings published in the AAs’ Research Notes, 2024 PT5 comes from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which surrounds the sun.
But Earth’s gravitational pull will draw 2024 PT5 towards it and, much like our moon, it will orbit our planet — but only for 56.6 days.
Other non-Earth objects, have already entered Earth’s orbit, but some do not complete full revolutions. Some, however, do and turn into so-called mini-moons.
2024 PT5, which is larger than some of the other mini-moons, will also return to Earth orbit in 2055.
The asteroid will have negative geocentric energy, which means it cannot escape Earth’s gravitational pull, and Earth’s gravity will draw it into its orbit.
It will remain in close proximity to Earth even after it departs orbit, reaching its closest approach on January 9, 2025.
The study’s lead author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos told Space.com the mini-moon will be too small to see with amateur telescopes or binoculars but professional astronomers with stronger tools will be able to spot it.
