Earth will soon gain a second moon, but only for a few weeks. In fact, you may not even see it. Towards the end of September, the asteroid will turn into the moon of our planet for less than two months.
The small asteroid, named 2024 PT5, was discovered on August 7 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). It is currently on a trajectory where it will be captured by Earth’s gravity. Carlos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos, researchers from Spain’s Universidad Complutense de Madrid, revealed this in a paper published in Research Notes of AAS.
The pair say the asteroid will orbit Earth from September 29 to November 25. After completing almost one orbit, it moves away from us. This is not the first time that Earth has been temporarily given two moons. Carlos and Marcos write in the paper that the two-month scenario, although rare, has already happened. This has happened at least twice in the past.
First in July 2006, when a mini-moon orbited the Earth for about a year. Later, another object was discovered that was captured by Earth’s gravity. It escaped in 2020. This is not unusual, as scientists say objects can become entangled in the planet’s gravity for a short period of time. In 2020, a minimoon was rumored to be lurking nearby, but scientists were unable to find conclusive data.
The duo is certain that it is a celestial object and not an artificial body. “The object is unlikely to be artificial because its short-term dynamical evolution closely resembles that of 2022 NX1,” they wrote in the paper, referring to another asteroid that became a minimoon in 1981 and again in 2022.
Asteroid 2024 PT5 likely originates from the Arjuna asteroid belt, home to near-Earth objects with orbits similar to our planet. Amateur astronomer Tony Dunn of X shared a fascinating simulation of an asteroid flying in and out of Earth.
