Earth is all set to get a second moon as an asteroid known as 2024 PT5 will orbit it for around two months between September 29 and November 25 before escaping its gravitational field.
Due to its small size and dull rock composition, the Earth's temporary "mini-moon" can be viewed with professional equipment, according to the American Astronomical Society's Research Notes.
Astronomer Dr Jennifer Millard, host of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, said that "professional telescopes will be able to pick it up. So, you’ll be able to look out for lots of wonderful pictures online of this little dot moving past the stars at great speed.”
Asteroid 2024 PT5 was discovered on August 7 by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial- Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). It originates from the Arjuna asteroid belt, a tangle of space rocks that circle the sun close to Earth, and is estimated to be about 33 feet (10 meters) wide.
Mini-moons have been observed before in 1981 and 2022 respectively, while 2022 NX 1 became an ephemeral companion to Earth. Scientists anticipate that in 2055, PT5 from 2024 will likewise re-enter Earth's orbit.
The American Astronomical Society indicates that the 2024 PT5 is expected to depart on Nov 25 after entering orbit on September 29.
"It's not going to complete a full revolution of our planet; it's just going to kind of have its orbit altered, just twisted slightly by our planet, and then it'll continue on its merry way," said Millard.
According to studies, an asteroid may be momentarily drawn into Earth's gravitational field if it is traveling slowly — roughly 3,540 km/h. And the 2024 PT5 will experience this.
“This story highlights just how busy our solar system is and how much there is out there that we haven't discovered because this asteroid was only discovered this year,” said Millard.
“There are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands, of objects out there that we haven't discovered, and so I think this highlights the importance of us being able to continually monitor the night sky and find all of these objects," he added.
