Earth only has one moon. Next week that won’t be true.

Astronomers have found that Earth’s massive, ever-looming moon is about to get firm.

Starting on Sunday, the planet will seize an asteroid crusing close by, drawing it in for one loop round Earth earlier than making its exit on Nov. 25. When it leaves, it can proceed its trajectory across the solar. The 2-month go to places this area rock within the class of so-called “mini-moons.” 

The asteroid getting its proverbial quarter-hour of fame is named 2024 PT5, found with the assistance of a NASA-funded asteroid detection system and a South African observatory in August. However earlier than digging out binoculars from the closet, know this: It is solely 33 ft broad — in regards to the size of a Greyhound bus — and never shiny sufficient to view with the bare eye or an novice telescope. 

All through the photo voltaic system, near 300 moons orbit the eight planets and Pluto, and scientists typically discover new ones as survey strategies enhance. The overwhelming majority of moons circle gasoline giants Saturn and Jupiter. 

They arrive in quite a lot of styles and sizes, however their defining attribute is that they orbit one other cosmic object bigger than themselves. Whereas these pure satellites are fairly frequent, moons are particular to people as a result of Earth has only one in a set orbit — albeit an enormous rocky one roughly one-quarter Earth’s dimension about 239,000 miles away. 

Earth has captured asteroids and pulled them into orbit with its gravity earlier than, however typically these area rocks fly by with out finishing a full circuit across the planet. In comparison with mini-moons of the current previous, 2024 PT5 is a short-timer. In July 2006, a customer dubbed RH120 stayed in orbit round Earth for a yr earlier than getting flung out in July 2007. Astronomers consider one which escaped in Might 2020 may have been sweeping across the planet for a number of years. 

All through the photo voltaic system, near 300 moons orbit the eight planets and Pluto, and scientists are sometimes discovering new ones as survey strategies enhance.
Credit score: NASA composition illustration

Two astronomers from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain made the newest mini-moon discovery whereas calculating the dynamics of near-Earth objects. Their findings have been printed within the journal Analysis Notes of the AAS. Prior analysis by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Final Alert System had already proven that the area rock was not a risk to smashing into Earth. 

Whereas finding out 2024 PT5’s path, the analysis duo, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos, may additionally hint again to its origin. The area rock doubtless got here from the so-called Arjuna asteroid belt, a gaggle of small rocks concentrated close to Earth that was found within the early Nineties.