Earth is about to capture another moon.

Astronomers say the newly discovered asteroid, named 2024 PT5, will be temporarily held in place by Earth's gravity, allowing it to orbit the Earth from September 29 to November 25. After that, the space asteroid will return to its heliocentric orbit, which is its orbit around the Sun.

Details about the transient small moon and its horseshoe-shaped orbit were published in the American Astronomical Society's Research Notes this month.

This illustrates what it would be like if this small moon were orbiting the Earth: X

Astronomers first discovered this asteroid on August 7th using an observatory located in South Africa that is part of the NASA-funded Atmospheric, Last Alert System for Asteroid Impacts (ATLAS).

The study's lead author, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos at Complutense University of Madrid, said that asteroid 2024 PT5, with a diameter of about 11 meters, poses no risk of colliding with Earth in the next few decades. This cosmic rock will orbit at a distance of about 4.2 million kilometers, or about 10 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

De la Fuente Marcos explains that these short-lived asteroid flybys of Earth are micromoons lasting for days, weeks, or months. Short micromoons can occur several times a decade, but long micromoons are rare and only happen every 10 or 20 years.

Asteroids don't easily become micromoons because they have to move at the right speed and direction to be held back by Earth's gravity. De la Fuente Marcos stated: "To become a micromoon, an incoming object must approach Earth slowly at close range."

He added that asteroids that become small moons will fly within 4.5 million kilometers of Earth at speeds below 3,600 km/h.

Asteroid 2024 PT5 originates from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which includes small asteroids with orbits around the sun similar to those of Earth.

De la Fuente Marcos and his colleagues plan to observe 2024 PT5 to gather more data and insights using the Gran Telescopio Canarias observatory and the Two-Meter Twin Telescope, both located in the Canary Islands of Spain. But he said the asteroid would be too small and faint for amateur telescopes or binoculars to observe. It would not produce any observable effects on Earth.

After 56.6 days, the Sun's gravitational pull will return asteroid 2024 PT5 to its normal orbit.

But according to research, this asteroid is expected to fly past Earth at a distance of 1.7 million kilometers on January 9, 2025, before "leaving Earth's vicinity shortly thereafter, until its next return in 2055".

When asteroid 2024 PT5 returns, astronomers predict it will become a small moon of Earth for a few days in November 2055 and again for a few weeks in early 2084.

Ngoc Anh (according to CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/trai-dat-sap-bat-duoc-mot-mat-trang-khac-post313316.html