Mini Moon To Revolve Around Earth For Two Months; What Is It?

PIC COURTESY: NASA

Bhubaneswar: In a rare celestial event, a temporary mini moon will revolve around our planet for about two months. This is an asteroid that will be captured by Earth’s gravitational force and orbit the earth from September 29 to November 25, according to media reports.

The asteroid 2024 PT5 was spotted on August 7. A NASA-funded asteroid warning system helped spot the asteroid, which has a diameter of just 10 metre (33 feet).

During its 53-day tenure around the earth, 2024 PT5 will not be able to make a full orbit, instead it will perform a horseshoe loop, according to a report published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. Thereafter, it will break away from the earth’s gravity.

The report, authored by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos, cites that Earth has a tendency to capture asteroids and pull them into its orbit. These asteroids sometimes perform one or more full revolutions around our planet. At times, they break away from the earth’s elliptical path before completing an orbit, the report states.

Earlier, an asteroid captured by Earth’s gravity revolved around it for a year from July 2006 to July 2007. However, this asteroid seems to resemble the path of 2022 NX1, a temporary flyby that revolved around Earth in 1981 and 2022. The report also highlights that its orbital properties are similar to those of asteroids from the Arjuna asteroid belt.