Earth will get a second "mini-moon" for 2 months this year
Earth will get a second moon for about two months this year when a small asteroid begins to orbit our planet. The asteroid was discovered in August and is set to become a mini-moon, revolving around Earth in a horseshoe shape from Sept. 29 to Nov. 25.
Researchers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, an asteroid monitoring system funded by NASA, spotted the asteroid using an instrument in Sutherland, South Africa and labeled it 2024 PT5.
Scientists from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid have tracked the asteroid's orbit for 21 days and determined its future path. 2024 PT5 is from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which orbits the sun, according to their study published in Research Notes of the AAs.
But Earth's gravitational pull will draw 2024 PT5 towards it and, much like our moon , it will orbit our planet — but only for 56.6 days.
While other non-Earth objects, or NEOs, have entered Earth's orbit before, some don't complete full revolutions of Earth. Some, however, do and become so-called mini-moons.
