Earth is set to get a temporary mini-moon for the next 2 months. Asteroid 2024 PT5 will temporarily orbit Earth from September 29 to November 25. But sadly, this mini-moon won’t be able to see the naked eye. The asteroid is about 33 feet long, which is too small to be visible to the naked eye.
A small Apollo-Neo-class asteroid will orbit Earth due to Earth’s gravitational pull for two months till it breaks free from this pull. The asteroid will not collide with Earth but it will temporarily orbit Earth before it shifts to its normal sun-centered orbit.
Earth is about to gain a temporary mini-moon—asteroid 2024 PT5. Discovered on August 7, 2024, this asteroid is roughly 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter and will be captured by Earth’s gravity from September 29 to November 25, 2024.
During this time, the asteroid will loop around… pic.twitter.com/xDZERy3CsS
— Erika (@ExploreCosmos_) September 13, 2024
The asteroid 2024 PT5 was discovered on August 7 by a team of scientists, according to a paper published by the American Astronomical Society.
What is a mini-moon?
The asteroids that fail to escape the earth’s gravitational pull during a flyby and end up orbiting for a brief period of time are called mini-moons. The asteroid is classified as an Apollo-Neo asteroid by NASA. NEOs, or near-earth objects, are objects that fly by Earth within about 120 million miles (190 million kilometers).
There are around 28000 asteroids that are monitored by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).
Will the asteroid 2024 PT5 ‘mini-moon’ be visible to the naked eye or telescope?
Asteroid 2024 PT5 is only about 33 feet long, which makes it impossible to be visible to the naked eye and using an amateur telescope to locate this asteroid will be tough as well due to its small size.
Previous mini-moons
Such mini-moons are not only rare but also harder to spot. Only 3 mini-moons have been observed before in history. Asteroid 2022 NX1 became The first mini-moon in 1981 and again in 2022.
The asteroid 2006 RH120 became the second mini-moon. It orbited Earth for an entire year from July 2006 to 2007
Out of a surprise in 2020 a random space junk from a rocket booster from the 1966 Surveyor 2 Centaur launch became the third mini-moon.
