NASA to track floating ‘mini moon’ asteroid with planetary radar – everything you need to know mint

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Earth got a temporary ‘mini moon’ last month as an asteroid continued its orbit around the Sun. The somewhat cumbersome name ‘2024 PT5’ is approximately 33 feet wide and is located nine times farther from Earth than the Moon. NASA plans to track it with planetary radar as it monitors the planet for the next few months.

According to an official press note from NASA, the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California will track the object during its next close pass by our planet in January 2025. At this time it will be five times farther from the Earth than the Moon.

The asteroid will circle the world for about two months but will leave before completing a full orbit. Earlier reports indicated that it would separate from Earth in late November before continuing its solo trajectory through the universe. It is expected to pass again in 2055.

Referring to it as a ‘mini moon’ is a misnomer as the asteroid will never actually fall under Earth’s gravitational force. However, scientists at NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies suspect that 2024 PT5 may be a large piece of rock ejected from the moon’s surface after an asteroid impact long ago. Analysis of its motion has ruled out the possibility of it being a rocket body derived from a historical launch.

The space rock was first spotted in August by astronomers from the Complutense University of Madrid, using a powerful telescope based in South Africa. Experts indicate that these short-lived mini-moons are more common than we realized, with the last known discovery in 2020.

However, asteroid 2024 PT5 will not be visible to the naked eye or amateur telescopes. Astronomer Carlos de la Fuente Marcos – one of the two people who discovered the ‘mini moon’ – said it could be seen “with relatively large, research-grade telescopes”.

(with inputs from agencies)

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