Planet Earth is bidding farewell to an asteroid that has been accompanying it as a “mini moon” for the past two months. The celestial visitor, a harmless space rock, will depart on Monday, drawn away by the stronger gravitational pull of the sun. However, this is not goodbye forever; the asteroid is expected to return for a brief visit in January.
NASA is gearing up to observe the 10-meter asteroid, known as 2024 PT5, using a radar antenna during its next approach. This observation aims to deepen scientists’ understanding of the object, which is thought to be quite possibly a boulder that was blasted off the moon by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.
Despite not being technically a moon—NASA emphasizes that it was never fully captured by Earth’s gravity—the asteroid’s “mini moon” behavior has piqued the interest of astronomers worldwide. “It’s an interesting object worthy of study,” NASA officials have noted.
Astrophysicist brothers Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos from Complutense University of Madrid have been at the forefront of studying this asteroid’s unique trajectory. Collaborating with telescopes in the Canary Islands, they have conducted hundreds of observations to track its path.
Currently located more than 3.5 million kilometers away, the asteroid is too small and faint to be seen without a powerful telescope. In January, it will pass as close as 1.8 million kilometers from Earth—maintaining a safe distance before it continues its journey farther into the solar system while orbiting the sun. It is not expected to return until 2055, and even then, it will be nearly five times farther from Earth than the moon.
First spotted in August, the asteroid began its semi-orbit around Earth in late September, following a horseshoe-shaped path influenced by Earth’s gravity. By the time it swings back next year, it will be moving too fast—more than double its speed from September—to linger in Earth’s vicinity, according to Raul de la Fuente Marcos.
In January, NASA plans to track the asteroid for more than a week using the Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert, a part of the Deep Space Network. These observations are expected to provide valuable data about the asteroid’s composition and trajectory.
Current data suggests that during its 2055 visit, the sun-orbiting asteroid may once again make a temporary and partial lap around Earth. Scientists are eager to understand more about these celestial dynamics, which offer insights into the evolution of our solar system.
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Earth's 'mini moon' may have been a chunk of our actual moon
cgtn.com
