Earth gets a new moon for two months.

This month, Earth is expected to temporarily acquire a second moon in the form of the small asteroid 2024 PT5. 

Unlike our primary moon, which has been with us for about 4 billion years, this “mini-moon” will only be around for about two months before returning to its home in an asteroid belt that orbits the sun.

A group of scientists who specialize in studying “mini-moon events” discovered this upcoming gravitational capture event.

 They noticed the unique dynamic properties of 2024 PT5 while regularly observing newly discovered objects for any intriguing behaviour.

“The object that is coming our way is from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which is a secondary asteroid belt consisting of space rocks that have orbits very similar to Earth’s, with an average distance from the sun of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometres),” said Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, the lead author of the research and a professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 

“The objects in the Arjuna asteroid belt are part of the near-Earth object population of asteroids and comets.”

Marcos explained that some of these objects in the Arjuna asteroid belt can come close to Earth, at a distance of around 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km), and at relatively low velocities of about 2,200 miles per hour (3,540 km/h).

“Under these conditions, the geocentric energy of the object may grow negative, and the object may become a temporary moon of Earth. This particular object will undergo this process starting next week and for about two months,” he added. “It will not follow 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.”

At night keep a look out you might just see our new temporary moon.

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