There is speculation of having a second moon from the next week from September 29 to November 25. Earth’s closest celestial body is the Moon. We might have a new member as the temporary second moon. Here is everything you need to know.
Earth To Have Temporary Second Moon
Astronomers have calculated that this autumn, 2024 PT5 will be orbiting Earth. It is an object that scientists believe to be an asteroid but have dubbed a mini-moon.’ The second moon will remain in Earth’s gravitational pull for 2 months. It will be acting as a temporary second moon.
Adversely, the mini-moon will not be visible to the naked eye, as it is 10 meters in size. But it will be present for almost two months.
When Was It Discovered?
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) discovered this asteroid on 7 August. It is originating from the Arjuna asteroid belt. It is expected to return there once it leaves Earth’s orbit.
Researchers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos wrote in their published research that “Earth can regularly capture asteroids from the Near-Earth Object (NEO) population and pull them into orbit, making them mini-moons.”
The mini-moon is smaller than Earth’s permanent moon, which has a diameter of 3,474 km.
NASA’s Research
NASA monitors approximately 28,000 near-earth objects (NEOs). They keep track of their orbits. They also provide summaries of their close approaches. The 2023 PT5 may be debris from a lunar impact. There are indications that it could have originated from the moon.
Predictions
Scientists also believe that this mini-moon will return to Earth’s orbit again in 2055. This is not a rare event, as previously mini moon occurred in 1981 and 2022.
The asteroid is not going to circle Earth like the permanent moon. It will only follow a different and shorter path around the planet. Paul Chodas is the director of the Centre for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He mentioned that “2024 PT5 is possibly a piece of ejecta from an impact on the moon.” It means the mini-moon may have originally been a part of our moon.
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