Earth is about to get a second moon.

The Moon is about to get a new neighbor.

From September 29th to November 25th, astronomers calculated that the "mini-moon" would orbit the Earth before gradually escaping its orbit, in a rare astronomical event.

However, the celestial body designated 2024 PT5, considered the second moon, is only about 10 meters in size and very difficult to observe from Earth, even though it will be near Earth for almost two months, according to Time magazine.

This celestial body, discovered by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on August 7th, originated from the Arjuna asteroid belt and will return there after leaving Earth's orbit.

"Earth may regularly capture asteroids from near-Earth object (NEO) clusters and pull them into orbit, turning them into small moons," researchers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos wrote in their recently published study.

According to NASA, a NEO is any object or asteroid that has been impacted by nearby planets, pushing it into the vicinity of Earth.

The Moon is estimated to be over 40 million years old.

NASA has its own program to track the location and orbits of tens of thousands of asteroids, with specific data for each NEO, including orbital parameters and summaries of close approaches.

Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said 2024 PT5 could be a piece of material ejected from a lunar impact, meaning the smaller moon may have originated from a fragment of the original moon, according to The New York Times .

Research indicates that small moons can come in many forms, including those that orbit the Earth for one or more cycles and remain in orbit for months or years. In addition, there are "temporarily captured moons" that orbit for a short period and do not complete a full revolution.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trai-dat-sap-co-them-mat-trang-thu-2-185240920093208083.htm