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Space and Wonders: Earth to get a temporary mini-moon named 2024 PT5

Season 1, Ep. 4062

An asteroid named 2024 ON just passed near Earth without causing any damage, and another asteroid, which might appear like a mini-moon, is on its way. That asteroid, named 2024 PT5, is just 33 feet long and is travelling in cosmic space.


It will soon be captured by Earth’s gravity for a singular orbit, which means the 2024 PT5 asteroid will make half a revolution in a horseshoe-shaped orbit around the planet before it continues its cosmic journey.


It is quite rare to see an asteroid being attracted by Earth’s gravitational pull, as in most cases asteroids either miss Earth or burn upon entering the planet’s atmosphere. An asteroid that cannot escape Earth’s gravitation is called a mini-moon. As 2024 PT5 is a smaller asteroid, despite falling into Earth’s gravitational pull, it will be visible only through special telescopes.


The asteroid 2024 PT5 is not a mini-moon technically, as it will not complete one full revolution around Earth but will remain in the planet’s orbit for over 56 days. In most cases, when astronomers discover a mini-moon, it turns out to be a man-made object such as a part of a spacecraft or satellite.


The 2024 PT5 asteroid, first discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System on August 7, will make one complete revolution around Earth, starting from September 29 to November 25, before it breaks free of our planet’s gravitational pull and continues its journey.


A report in The New York Times quoted Federica Spoto, an asteroid dynamics researcher at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, as saying that “it is pretty cool” and that 2024 PT5 could help scientists gain more knowledge about the space rocks that pass Earth very frequently.

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