Earth now has a new, if only temporarily, companion celestial body: the small space rock, Asteroid 2024 PT5. It was discovered last month in Spain and caught up by Earth’s gravity. Measuring about the length of a school bus, this “mini-moon” should orbit Earth for about two months before heading back into deep space.
A Dim And Distant Object
The possibility of a new moon is intriguing. However, sadly, it is not within the viewable spectrum of the naked eye. The small, faint appearance of this object requires large, professional-sized telescopes to be sighted due to its small size. Any of us would only be able to see this interstellar visitor through images taken on the internet by the observatories.
A Member Of The Arjuna Asteroid Belt
Asteroid 2024 PT5 is a member of the Arjuna asteroid belt collection of space rocks whose orbit around the Sun closely parallels Earth’s. This, of course, is not the first time that Earth has had one of these mini-moons. Scientists captured another small asteroid temporarily by Earth’s gravity back in 2020. These celestial visitors are not that uncommon. They are small and live brief lives, hence, they are difficult to detect.
A Potential Piece Of The Moon
Astronomers are strangely intrigued that Asteroid 2024 PT5 could be a chunk of the Moon broken off through an impact event.
A Reminder Of Earth’s Dynamic Solar System
The periodic passage by Asteroid 2024 PT5 reminds us that our solar system exists dynamically. Millions of space rocks indeed pass by Earth every year. Hence, scientists must monitor millions of space rocks passing by Earth annually to understand risks and gain insights into our cosmic neighborhood’s origin and origin.
This newly discovered mini-moon, Asteroid 2024 PT5, orbits the Earth and has not been within naked-eye visibility. Nevertheless, the discovery of this space object brings to the forefront again the dynamic nature of our solar system. These scientists want to observe it further to know about its origin and how this ‘alien’ may affect Earth.
