NORFOLK, Va. — The Earth is getting a second moon! But it's only for about two months, and you won't be able to see it with the naked eye.
The mini-moon, named "2024 PT5", was discovered back in August and will be temporarily captured by Earth's gravitational pull. This mini-moon is actually just a very small asteroid, about 33 feet in diameter, so roughly the same height as a giraffe or the length of a local city bus. For context, our actual moon's diameter is over 2,100 miles or 11,088,000 feet!
2024 PT5 was first detected by astronomers using telescopes that monitor near-Earth objects. As it approaches Earth, the planet's gravitational pull will alter its trajectory, causing it to enter into a temporary orbit around our planet traveling at about 3,280 feet per second.
On September 29 it will be captured by Earth's gravitational pull and will make a horseshoe-like trajectory around the planet instead of a full orbit. By November 25, it will escape Earth's orbit and be pulled toward the sun, continuing to travel around the solar system.
Unfortunately, 2024 PT5 will not be able to be seen with the naked eye or even with binoculars or your average telescope. But don't worry if you do not have an advanced telescope this time around, because it will be back in 2055!
As a matter of fact, 2024 PT5 is not the first mini-moon that Earth has had. This asteroid is looking to have a similar path to asteroid 2022 NX1, which was also about 33 feet in diameter. In 1981 and 2022, 2022 NX1 briefly orbited Earth as a mini-moon and will reappear again about four years earlier than 2024 PT5, in 2051.
