Islamabad, Sep 28: Earth Temporary Mini Moon Discovered Orbiting the Planet. A new “mini-moon” has joined Earth’s orbit as a result of the asteroid 2024 PT5. After years of following Earth, the asteroid has recently gotten near enough to be pulled in by the planet’s gravity. It will stay in the orbit of Earth until November, at which point it will separate and resume its orbit around the Sun.
When an asteroid passes close enough to Earth that the gravitational attraction of the Sun is momentarily overcome, mini-moons are created. Usually, these items are natural, such as asteroids or space trash, but occasionally, space debris created by humans may become entangled in the gravity of Earth.
The asteroid 2024 PT5, which the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System identified last month, is not thought to pose a threat to Earth. This mini-moon is safe, but the technology is meant to identify near-Earth objects that might be dangerous.
The asteroid was discovered and described in detail in a study titled “A Two-month Mini-moon,” which was published in Research Notes of the AAS. The researchers anticipated the asteroid will follow a horseshoe-shaped route before departing Earth’s orbit on November 25. It is predicted to leave Earth’s orbit in January and could make a comeback in 2055.
2024 PT5 is too small and weak to be seen with the unaided eye, but it can be spotted with specialist telescopes. It most likely originated from the Arjuna belt, which is well-known for its smaller objects, like many asteroids that pass past Earth.
While small objects are frequently drawn to Earth, it is uncommon for them to develop into mini-moons like 2024 PT5. A similar occurrence happened with 2022 NX1, which reappeared in 2022 after briefly existing as a mini-moon in 1981.
Mini-moons can also be found on other planets, such as Jupiter, because of their greater mass and gravitational attraction. Even quasi-moons on some planets, which orbit the Sun in orbits like those of their host planets, have the ability to draw in mini-moons of their own.
