Two Fall Moons

Scientists say that from late September to late November, Earth will temporarily have a “second moon” – a small asteroid, or “mini-moon”, that will orbit our planet.

According to research published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, this asteroid, roughly the size of a bus, will be pulled into Earth’s orbit by gravity. From September 29 to November 25, it will circle the Earth before returning to its original path in the Arjuna Asteroid Belt. Despite its close orbit, the mini-moon will be too small and dark to be seen by the naked eye.

Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, an astrophysicist at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, explains that this asteroid, like others from the Arjuna Belt, has an orbit similar to Earth’s, allowing it to get pulled into our planet’s gravitational field occasionally.

The asteroid, discovered this August by NASA’s ATLAS (Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System) project, is only 10 metres long – much smaller than our natural moon, which is about 3,474 kilometres in diameter.

Scientists say this mini-moon will return to orbit Earth temporarily again in 2055. This isn’t the first time a mini-moon has visited Earth’s orbit; similar events occurred twice before, in 1981 and 2022.

#SecondMoon #Minimoon #SpaceNews #EarthOrbit #Asteroid2024