- Planet Earth is bidding farewell to its “minimoon,” a harmless asteroid named 2024 PT5 that has been following Earth for two months. and will depart on Monday. They are pulled away by the Sun’s stronger gravitational pull.
- This asteroid was first seen in August. It begins with a brief interaction between gravity and the Earth. At the end of September
- After leaving The asteroid isn’t expected to return close to Earth until 2055.
Planet Earth is parting with an asteroid that has been tagged as a “minimoon” for the past two months.
Harmless space rock peels off Monday dominated by the sun’s gravitational force But it’s even closer for a quick visit in January.
NASA will use a radar antenna to observe the 33-foot asteroid at that time. That should deepen scientists’ understanding of the object, called 2024 PT5, which may be a rock blasted off the moon by the planet. Little of it formed the impact crater.
Scientists have discovered a large cave on the moon that could be used to shelter astronauts.
Although it’s not technically the moon, NASA emphasizes that it’s never captured by Earth’s gravity and is entirely in orbit, but it’s still an “object of interest” worth studying.
A supermoon with a partial lunar eclipse appears over Lake Michigan in Chicago on Sept. 9, Aug. 17, 2024. Planet Earth is parting ways with an asteroid that has been tagged as a “minimoon” for the past two months. come (AP photo/Kiichiro Sato, file)
Specified astrophysicist fraternity “Minimoon behavior” of asteroids Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos from Complutens University of Madrid. It has collaborated with telescopes in the Canary Islands to make hundreds of observations so far.
Currently more than 2 million miles away, the object is too small and dim to be seen without powerful telescopes. It will pass by Earth as close as 1.1 million miles away in January. It maintains a safe distance before it moves further into the solar system as it orbits the Sun. It doesn’t return until 2055, nearly five times farther than the Moon.
The NASA logo is seen at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on June 21, 2023. (Stephanie Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
This asteroid was first seen in August. He began semi-jogging around the world at the end of September. After being under the force of gravity and walking along the horseshoe-shaped path
By the time it returns next year It is moving too fast — more than twice as fast as in September — to get anywhere, said Raul de la Fuente Marcos.
The Gibbous Crescent takes place on June 8, 2023 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
NASA will track the asteroid for more than a week in January using the Goldstone Solar System radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert. which is part of the deep space network
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Current data suggests that during a visit in 2055, the Sun-orbiting asteroid will temporarily and partially circle Earth again.
