Earth is about to have a second moon

From September 29 to November 25, astronomers calculate that the "mini moon" will orbit the Earth, before gradually escaping its orbit, in a rare astronomical event.

However, the celestial body with the symbol 2024 PT5, considered the second moon, is only about 10 meters in size and is very difficult to observe from Earth, even though it will be close to Earth for nearly 2 months, according to Time magazine.

This celestial body was discovered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on August 7, originating from the Arjuna celestial belt and will return here after leaving Earth's orbit.

“Earth can regularly capture asteroids from the near-Earth object (NEO) population and pull them into orbit, transforming them into mini-moons,” researchers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos wrote in the study, which was just published.

According to NASA, a NEO is any object, asteroid, or rock that has been impacted by nearby planets and pushed into the vicinity of Earth.

NASA has its own program to track the positions and orbits of tens of thousands of asteroids, with specific data for each NEO, including orbital parameters and close approach summaries.

Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said 2024 PT5 could be a piece of material ejected from a lunar impact, meaning the mini-moon could have originated from a piece of the original moon, according to The New York Times .

The study said there could be several types of mini-moons, including those that orbit the Earth for one or more revolutions and stay in orbit for months or years, and “captured moons” that orbit for a short period of time and do not complete a single revolution.