Meet Earth’s new mini-moon, 2024 PT5. Well, actually, 2024 PT5 is not a “mini-moon” but rather an asteroid that will stick around for 56.6 days as of Sunday.
First spotted on Aug. 7 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System in Sutherland, South Africa, 2024 PT5 is an asteroid about 10 meters wide from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which consists of space rocks considered to be small Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) in the secondary asteroid belt near the Earth-Moon system path.
For an asteroid to hang out with Earth, it must approach the planet at a range of 4.5 million kilometers and a speed of 3,540 kilometers per hour, according to Dr. Marcos de la Fuente, a faculty member and specific project researcher in the department of Earth Physics and Astrophysics at Spain’s Complutense University of Madrid, who has been studying 2024 PT5 since it was spotted.
Unlike the asteroids that constantly threaten life on Earth, 2024 PT5 is only getting a glimpse of life on Earth by riding our orbit until it eventually gets bored and leaves on Nov. 25. This visitor from deep space will be unable to complete a full orbit around Earth as the Sun’s gravitational pull will eventually pull it away.
Everything that has mass has a gravitational force. The larger the mass, the larger the gravitational force. We know that living creatures and objects on the surface of Earth are being pulled down by Earth’s gravitational pull, but we are technically exerting a gravitational force on Earth too. However, since we are so small compared to Earth, our gravitational force has a small effect on our planetary home.
2024 PT5 will become entangled within the combined gravitational force of the Earth and moon, allowing it to glide with Earth’s orbit until the Sun beats the Earth and moon in a game of tug-of-war, sending 2024 PT5 back to its home in the Arjuna asteroid belt.
Though this friendly asteroid seems like a once in a lifetime event, “mini-moons” (emphasis on the “s”) occur frequently and may visit Earth periodically throughout time. It is estimated that 2024 PT5 will once again get captured by Earth in the year 2055 and is believed to have visited us in the year 1960.
In fact, there are different kinds of mini-moons: those that are not able to complete a full orbit and those that complete one or more. The latter of these are less frequent and longer lasting, with some sticking around for years. An example of such an asteroid is 2006 RH120, which joined our planet in July 2006 and left a year later. There are other NEOs like the 2024 PT5 such as 1991 VG and 2022 NX1. In particular, 2022 NX1 visited Earth in 1981, 2022, and is set to return in 2051.
Though 2024 PT5 will be nearby, seeing it will require a telescope with a diameter of 30 inches plus a CCD or CMOS detector. Perhaps this is the perfect time for you to go bother one of our very own astrophysics professors here at Carnegie Mellon.
Now, what Earth’s temporary mini moon says about your star sign is uncertain, but perhaps try checking out our horoscope section.
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