NASA scientists have calculated that Earth will seize a “second moon” on Sunday (Sept. 29). The “mini-moon” comes within the type of the tiny asteroid 2024 PT5, which often orbits the solar as a part of a small asteroid belt that follows Earth.
While Earth's major companion, the moon, has lingered round our planet for round 4 billion years since its formation within the photo voltaic system's infancy, this asteroid will be a brief fixture that will not even see the 12 months out.
“According to the latest data available from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Horizons system, the temporary capture will start at 15:54 EDT (1954 UTC) and will end at 11:43 EDT (1543 UTC) on November 25,” mini-moon occasion knowledgeable and Universidad Complutense de Madrid professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos instructed Space.com on Wednesday (Sept. 25).
“The object that is going to pay us a visit belongs to the Arjuna asteroid belt, a secondary asteroid belt made of space rocks that follow orbits very similar to that of Earth at an average distance to the sun of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers),” Marcos instructed Space.com final week. “Objects in the Arjuna asteroid belt are part of the near-Earth object population of asteroids and comets.”
Though the concept of Earth getting a second moon sounds extraordinary, these gravitational seize occasions are literally fairly frequent.
Related: Earth will get one other moon this month — however not for lengthy!
“Some Arjuna asteroid belt objects can approach Earth at a close range of around 2.8 million miles (4.5 million kilometers) and at a relatively low velocity of less than 2,200 miles per hour (3,540 km/h),” Marcos defined. “Asteroid 2024 PT5 will not describe a full orbit around Earth. You may say that if a true satellite is like a customer buying goods inside a store, objects like 2024 PT5 are window shoppers.”
After its transient keep round Earth, the asteroid 2024 PT5 will proceed to orbit the solar as a part of the Arjuna household of asteroids.
2024 PT5 is not the primary asteroid to be captured by Earth to be reworked right into a mini-moon. Scientists have formally documented two prior “short captures,” a kind of asteroid-grabbing occasion lasting a couple of week and estimated to happen a number of occasions per decade. We additionally know of two prior rarer “long-capture” occasions that may final years moderately than weeks that result in snared asteroids finishing a number of full orbits of Earth.
The proven fact that asteroid 2024 PT5 will stick round for just some weeks, versus billions of years, is not the one main distinction between this “mini-moon” and the precise moon.
Whereas the moon dominates the evening sky over Earth for not less than half the month, 2024 PT5 will not be observable to the common skywatcher. However, skilled astronomers could possibly seize us some pictures of this momentary alignment.
This is generally because of the large distinction in dimension between the 2 our bodies. While the moon is an estimated 2,159 miles (3,475 km) in diameter, 2024 PT5 is believed to be simply 37 toes huge. That means the moon is a whopping 308,108 occasions wider than the lunar pretender asteroid 2024 PT5!
“The object is too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars. However, the object is well within the brightness range of typical telescopes used by professional astronomers,” Marcos concluded. “A telescope with a diameter of at least 30 inches plus a CCD or CMOS detector is needed to observe this object; a 30-inch telescope and a human eye behind it will not be enough.”
The group's analysis is revealed within the journal The Research Notes of the AAS.
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