Researchers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (an asteroid monitoring centre funded by NASA) found an asteroid in August that will become a “two-month mini-moon” this year.
This asteroid is going to revolve around the Earth as a part of its “horseshoe” orbit from 29 September until the 25 November.
Named 2024 PT5, it’s not the first asteroid to have done this ― 2022 NX1 became a “mini-moon” in both 1981 and 2022.
Why is it going to be in our skies?
2024 PT5 is a part of the Arjuna asteroid belt, which orbits around the sun.
But as it gets closer to Earth, our gravitational pull will draw it closer to us than it would otherwise go.
Asteroids do not always complete a full orbit of Earth before making their way back to their regular paths.
“Temporarily captured flybys never complete one revolution around Earth, while temporarily captured orbiters complete one or more,” Research Notes of the AAS says.
Like 2022 NX1 (which is set to return to our skies in 2051), 2024 PT5 is the latter kind.
To count as a “mini-moon,” asteroids and other non-Earth objects (NEOs) have to rotate around the planet fully.
“You may say that if a true satellite [like the moon] is like a customer buying goods inside a store, objects like 2024 PT5 are window shoppers,” lead researcher of the asteroid Dr Carlos de la Fuente Marcos told Space.com.
Still, the moon will stick near Earth for a while after leaving our orbit, with its closest approach set to happen on the 9th of January 2025.
Will I be able to see it?
Unfortunately, most of us will not be able to see the “mini-moon,” Dr de la Fuente Marcos said.
“The object is too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars,” he revealed.
“However, the object is well within the brightness range of typical telescopes used by professional astronomers.”
If you’re wondering what “typical” means in this case, the researcher explained: “A telescope with a diameter of at least 30 inches plus a CCD or CMOS detector is needed to observe this object, a 30 inches telescope and a human eye behind it will not be enough.”
However, 2024 PT5 is set to return in 2055 ― enough time for us to save for some top tech, I guess.