A mini-moon that has been orbiting Earth for the past two months is set to peel away from our planet’s orbit today. The bus-size asteroid, known as 2024 PT5, is currently 2 million miles away from Earth and has started to move away from our planet due to the sun’s gravity.
This space rock was first spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on August 7 and was captured by Earth’s gravity on September 29. It completed one full orbit around our planet before being pulled away by the sun. Objects like these that temporarily orbit Earth are called mini-moons.
Scientists believe that asteroid 2024 PT5 could be a large chunk of rock ejected from the moon’s surface long ago after an asteroid impact. Despite being captured by the sun’s gravity now, the mini-moon will come back for a farewell pass of the Earth in January, flying by at a much closer distance and at double its current speed before moving further into the solar system.
NASA plans to track this January flyby using the Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert. After the mini-moon has left, we will have to wait until 2055 to see it again when it is expected to make a partial lap around Earth.
Mini-moons like this one hold valuable minerals and water that could be used for rocket fuel, making them important for companies looking to mine asteroids in the future. This discovery opens up possibilities for space exploration and resource utilization.
The existence of mini-moons provides researchers with a unique opportunity to study the composition of these space rocks and understand their origins. By studying these mini-moons, scientists can gain insights into the history of our solar system and the processes that have shaped it over billions of years.
As technology advances, we may be able to harness the resources found in mini-moons to support future space missions and potentially establish sustainable human settlements beyond Earth. The study and exploration of mini-moons could pave the way for exciting developments in space exploration and resource utilization in the years to come.