A new moon will be pulled into Earth’s orbit by the end of September, but it won’t stay there forever. Here’s why.
Originally appeared on E! Online
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A new moon is expected to be pulled into the Earth’s orbit by the end of September, but the rare phenomenon won’t last long.
The visiting moon is technically an asteroid known as 2024 PT5, and was initially spotted Aug. 7 by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) initiative, which warns of asteroid impacts. Unlike the existing moon — which has orbited our planet for about 4 billion years — this new floating rock is only expected to orbit the Earth once, beginning its trip Sept. 29 before breaking off from its gravitational pull on Nov. 25.
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Researchers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos explained the event in the journal "Research Notes of the AAS," writing, “Earth can regularly capture asteroids from the Near-Earth object (NEO) population and pull them into orbit, making them mini-moons."
Some have debated whether the asteroid even qualifies as a mini-moon due to its relatively small size — clocking in at 33 feet wide — as well as brief stay in Earth’s orbit.
“Every time an object with an orbit so earthlike is discovered, there is a chance that we are just recovering space debris,” Raúl told the New York Times, but confirmed that 2024 PT5 “is a natural object, no doubt about that."
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So how can you get a glimpse of the extraterrestrial event? Sadly for stargazers, 2024 PT5’s small frame will make it difficult to spot, but the space find is still intriguing as it’s one of the rare times Earth has collected additional temporary moons.
One such example occurred in 1981 and 2022, when another asteroid — known as 2022 NX1 — similarly took a short trip around the globe. In fact, the researchers noted in the journal that 2024 PT5 “follows a path that resembles that of 2022 NX1.”
