Earth to have new mini-moon for two months [updated]

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Earth to have new mini-moon for two months

Quote

A pair of asteroid dynamics researchers from Universidad Complutense de Madrid Ciudad Universitaria have found that a small asteroid will make one orbit around the Earth starting this month before departing back into other parts of the solar system.

In their paper published in the journal Research Notes of the AAS, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos describe how the Earth tends to capture asteroids on a regular basis and outline their calculations showing the path of 2024 PT₅ as it comes close to Earth.

Read More: ➡️ phys.org

 

[Cho Jinn]

That's no moon!

[BadChadB33]

Yay 2 full moons and many crazies running around

[Portre]

That's what they want you to believe. It's just an asteroid and it's only temporary.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

2 hours ago, Portre said:

That's what they want you to believe. It's just an asteroid and it's only temporary.

???

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here. Just because it's an asteroid and temporary doesn't mean that it is also  [temporarily] a moon.

[jethrofloyd]

The Pink Floyd have just announced they will temporarily change the title of their legendary album The Dark Side of the Moon to the The Dark Side of the Two Moons. 

The change of the album title will lasts until the second, visiting  moon, ceases to be visible on the sky.

P.S. This was just my short and temporarily visit here at the UM forum. 🖐️

 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

NASA to Track Asteroid 2024 PT5 on Next Close Pass, January 2025

Quote

The small near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5 was first observed on Aug. 7, 2024, by the Sutherland, South Africa telescope of the University of Hawai’i’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), which is funded by NASA. Estimated to be about 33 feet (10 meters) wide, the asteroid does not pose a hazard to Earth.

Because 2024 PT5 has a similar motion to Earth’s around the Sun, the asteroid will linger as a distant companion of our planet for a few months at a distance of about nine times farther away from Earth than the Moon. During this time, the object will never be captured by Earth’s gravity. So while it’s not quite a “mini-moon,” 2024 PT5 is an interesting object and NASA has plans to track it with planetary radar.

Read More: ➡️ NASA