Space & Astronomy

New 'moon' discovered orbiting the Earth

By T.K. Randall
October 6, 2014 ·  53 comments

Could there be more than one moon in orbit around us ? Image Credit: CC BY-2.0 Jason Bache It is common knowledge that the Earth has just one natural satellite, yet our planet's orbit is actually home to several other objects that could technically be considered moons.

The latest candidate, an asteroid discovered in 2014 by Farid Char of the Chilean University of Antofagasta, measures over 100m across and has entered in to a remarkably steady orbit around the Earth where it is likely to stay for at least another century."The past and future orbital evolution of this object becomes difficult to predict although it remains in the neighbourhood of Earth's co-orbital region for thousands of years," astronomers wrote.

It is believed that the asteroid has been in its current stable orbit for more than 700 years but that could change within the next two centuries as it is hard to predict what will happen after that.

It is extremely unlikely however that it will ever be formally recognized as a moon.

Source: Huffington Post | Comments (53)

Tags: Earth, Moon, Asteroid