The world will witness a unique celestial event when our Earth experiences a temporary second “moon”, asteroid 2024 PT5. This event will take place later this month around September 29th and will run until November 25th. 2024 PT5 will orbit Earth before returning to its journey through the solar system. The minimoon will be captured by Earth’s gravitational field for about two months.
What is 2024 PT5?
The Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), a NASA-funded early warning initiative, detected asteroid 2024 PT5 on August 7.
The asteroid is about 10 meters in diameter. It will not complete a full orbit in 53 days near Earth, but will follow a horseshoe-shaped path before leaving Earth’s gravitational influence.
According to researchers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the speed, size and orbit of asteroid 2024 PT5 are just enough for Earth to trap the space rock in its gravitational field.
This event also highlights Earth’s regular encounters with near-Earth objects (NEOs). This is a rare phenomenon, also known as a “temporarily intercepted flyby”, where asteroids enter Earth’s orbit, but not for very long.
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The event occurs for a short period of time
Minimoon events can be divided into two types; long seizures (lasting a year or more) and brief seizures (lasting days, weeks, or months). Events occur every 10 to 20 years, with short bursts like the one involving 2024 PT5 occurring more often several times per decade.
As a result, the Sun’s gravitational pull causes these objects to be ejected from Earth’s orbit before returning to their orbits at the center of the Sun.
Most sky watchers can’t track it
Unfortunately, the event would not be easily visible with the naked eye. To observe the minimoon, people need professional astronomers to study the event with larger telescopes and specialized equipment.
