Planet Earth is parting company with an asteroid that’s been tagging along as a “mini moon” for the past two months.
The harmless space rock will peel away on Monday, overcome by the stronger tug of the sun’s gravity.
While not technically a moon—NASA stresses it was never captured by Earth’s gravity and fully in orbit—it’s “an interesting object” worthy of study.
The astrophysicist brothers who identified the asteroid’s “mini moon behavior,” Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid, have collaborated with telescopes in the Canary Islands for hundreds of observations so far.
Current data suggest that during its 2055 visit, the sun-circling asteroid will once again make a temporary and partial lap around Earth.
The planet Earth is leaving behind an asteroid that has been following it for the last two months as a “mini moon.”.
On Monday, the sun’s gravity will pull the innocuous space rock away with greater force. For a brief visit in January, however, it will zip closer.
Then, NASA will observe the 33-foot (10-meter) asteroid using a radar antenna. That should help scientists better understand the object known as 2024 PT5, which may be a boulder that was blasted off the moon by an asteroid that formed craters during impact.
Although it isn’t technically a moon—NASA emphasizes that it was never fully in orbit and caught by Earth’s gravity—it is “an interesting object” that merits investigation.
To date, hundreds of observations have been made by the astrophysicist brothers, Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid, who discovered the asteroid’s “mini moon behavior,” working with telescopes in the Canary Islands.
The object, which is currently over 2 million miles (3 and a half million kilometers) away, is too small and faint to be seen without a powerful telescope. In January, it will pass as close as 1 million miles (1 million kilometers) from Earth, keeping a safe distance before accelerating into the solar system and orbiting the sun, which it won’t return to until 2055. That is nearly five times as far away as the moon.
After being discovered in August, the asteroid entered Earth’s gravitational pull and started its semi-jog around the planet in late September, taking the shape of a horseshoe. Raul de la Fuente Marcos stated that by the time it returns the following year, it will be traveling too quickly—more than twice as fast as it was in September—to stay put.
Using the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone solar system radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert, NASA will monitor the asteroid for over a week in January.
According to current information, the sun-circling asteroid is expected to make another brief and partial orbit around Earth during its visit in 2055.
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