The moon will get a companion this week as an asteroid across the size of a double-decker bus enters Earth’s orbit.
The momentary visitor, known as 2024 PT5, ought to arrive on 29 September and is predicted to befriend the common moon for round two months.
“A mini-moon is a small object orbiting another solar system body,” mentioned Daniel Brown, an affiliate professor in astronomy at Nottingham Trent College.
It could possibly both be manufactured from rock, which is an asteroid or a combination of rock, mud and ice, which is a comet.
“In either case, we have to think about these not orbiting around us forever but for a short amount of time,” mentioned Dr Brown.
2024 PT5 was first found in August final 12 months, the day earlier than it approached Earth at a distance of 353,200 miles (568,500km).
It belongs to the Arjuna asteroid belt, a bunch of house rocks within the photo voltaic system that revolve across the Solar.
Dr Brown mentioned the mini-moon will orbit Earth for 57 days earlier than ultimately swinging out of the planet’s gravitational pull.
“There is nothing explosive or dramatic happening to it for it to leave, it simply has too much energy to hang around us for too long,” he mentioned.
The mini-moon will likely be again
Though a short lived customer, Earth won’t see the final of this mini-moon.
Scientists predict it’ll re-enter our orbit in 2055.
This isn’t the primary time the Earth has had a mini-moon.
4 years in the past, scientists recognized one other mini-moon known as 2020 CD3, which orbited the Earth for greater than a 12 months.
Dr Brown mentioned mini-moons are pretty widespread however “what tends to be less common is being able to observe them, as they are small, very faint and very fast-moving”.
This 12 months’s mini-moon won’t be seen to the bare eye and might solely be seen by means of telescopes.
2024 PT5 is a near-Earth object – a bunch of house rocks that go by Earth frequently.
Astronomers observe these objects in case they’re a risk to Earth sooner or later however consultants mentioned it’s unlikely 2024 PT5 will pose such a danger.
