Sep 24, 2024, 1:36 PM CST
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MADISON, Wis. (CIVIC MEDIA) – We’ll be inheriting a mini-moon for a few weeks, but it’s only temporary, as an asteroid enters Earth’s orbit.
An asteroid is headed towards Earth. It’s a line we’ve heard in the movies and now it’s appearing in news headlines. No need to panic. It’s small, scientists say it’s only 32 feet long, about the size of a city bus.
It’ll be sucked into Earth’s orbit on Sunday, September 29th. A team of well-versed scientists in the study of so-called “mini-moon events “, found it in early August and named it Asteroid 2024 PT5.
It’s a space rock from the Arjuna Asteroid Belt, which orbits very similar to that of Earth, at an average distance to the sun of about 93 million miles. Researchers say it’s a part of the ‘near-Earth’ asteroids and comets.
In order for it to become a mini moon, it needs to get close to Earth at around 2.8 million miles away and slow, at speeds of around 2,200 mph.
“Under these conditions, the geocentric energy of the object may grow negative, and the object may become a temporary moon of Earth. This particular object will undergo this process starting next week and for about two months,” explained Professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, research lead author to Space.com. “It will not follow a full orbit around Earth.” Those long capture episodes, are rare, with Earth experiencing one around every ten or twenty years.
Newly-discovered #asteroid 2024 PT5 is about to undergo a "mini-moon event" when its geocentric energy becomes negative from September 29 – November 25.https://t.co/sAo1qSRu3J pic.twitter.com/pVYAmSbkCF
— Tony Dunn (@tony873004) September 10, 2024
Has this happened before? Yes.
- 1981 & 2022 NX1 asteroid, returning again in 2051.
- 1991 VG asteroid.
- 2022 YG asteroid.
This actually occurs so often, some researchers believe Earth always has at least one mini-moon hovering in space.
Where did this come from? Gravitational disturbances from the sun, eject these space rocks out of the sun-centered orbit and then are essentially inherited and pulled into ours, temporarily.
The event will only last from Sunday September 29th, 2024 until Monday November 25th, 2024. 57 days of a second moon! But our asteroid, labelled 2024 PT5, will once more orbit Earth in 2055.
Unfortunately, while this mini-moon hangs out around Earth, we will not be able to see it with our naked eyes.
It’s too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars. But it is well within the brightness range for telescopes used by professional astronomers. Check with your local observatory for viewing hours!
