A second moon has officially entered Earth’s orbit—sort of.
Although it’s being called a “mini-moon,” it’s actually an asteroid named 2024 PT5. The asteroid has been temporarily captured by Earth’s gravitational pull.
The asteroid will remain in Earth’s orbit from now until Nov. 25, when it will exit and continue its journey through the solar system.
“There’s no way for small telescopes to see this mini-moon. It’s far too small—about the size of a bus. Only the world’s largest telescopes can detect it, or a very long exposure is required,” Dr. David Reitzel, an astronomical lecturer at Griffith Observatory, told KTLA.
This type of event isn’t uncommon in the scientific community.
“We see something like this every few years. They stick around for a few weeks to months and then move on. There are typically two to three such occurrences per decade,” Reitzel said.
The last time Earth had a mini-moon was in 2022, when an asteroid known as NX1 entered Earth’s orbit.
For anyone concerned about the event, Reitzel reassured, “This disrupts nothing at all. There’s no danger to anything in the solar system.”
The asteroid was discovered by a group of scientists at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in August. They predict that the asteroid will return in 2025.
The Minor Planet Center will track this mini-moon and other small objects entering our solar system.
“This is a fun and somewhat rare event that isn’t visible to the naked eye, but it’s exciting to think about and can inspire people to explore the universe,” Reitzel said.