Earth to Gain a Temporary Second Moon in Upcoming Mini-Moon Event

If you find the regular moon less intriguing, prepare for an interesting shift: Earth will temporarily gain a second moon.

Soon, this new “moon,” which isn’t quite like our familiar celestial neighbour, will briefly join Earth’s orbit.

According to ABC13, an asteroid will approach Earth closely enough to enter its orbit temporarily, an event astronomers call a “mini-moon.” NASA discovered this asteroid from the Arjuna asteroid belt on August 7, and it will begin orbiting Earth from September 29 until November 25.

The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, supported by NASA, spotted the asteroid with equipment in Sutherland, South Africa, and named it 2024 PT5.

But can we see this second moon with the naked eye?

Unfortunately, this mini-moon won’t be visible to humans on Earth; its size is too small at about 10 meters long, especially compared to our moon.

Astrophysics Professor Adam Frank from the University of Rochester explained the mini-moon phenomenon to ABC News. He likened the asteroid to a “flying mountain in space,” noting, “This is an asteroid, essentially a mountain that flies near Earth or at a similar distance from the Sun as Earth, now caught by Earth’s gravity and temporarily joining the Earth-Moon system.”

Previous mini-moon events, which were fleeting, occurred in 1981 and 2022, as reported by ABC13.