Earth’s ‘mini-moon’

GS Paper - III

According to a new study, the Earth’s gravitational field will temporarily capture a small asteroid, called 2024 PT5, in late September. The asteroid will stay for two months before flying off into space. While gaining a “mini-moon” is not new for Earth, the phenomenon is rare — in most cases, asteroids either miss the planet or burn upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. A team of scientists discovered 2024 PT5 and published their findings in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society earlier this month.

What is a ‘mini-moon’?

  • Mini-moons are asteroids that fail to escape Earth’s gravity and end up orbiting the planet for some time.
  • They are usually very small and hard to detect — only four mini-moons of Earth have ever been discovered, and none are still orbiting Earth, according to a report by The Planetary Society.
  • Some may actually have been space debris. The Gaia spacecraft was once mistaken for a minimoon, and so were rocket stages from the Chang’e 2 and Lunar Prospector missions, the report said.

What do we know about 2024 PT5?

  • The asteroid was discovered with the help of the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).
  • It is estimated to be just 33 feet long and is too small to be visible to the naked eye or through typical amateur telescopes. However, the asteroid is within the brightness range of telescopes used by professional astronomers.
  • The asteroid could possibly be a “piece of ejecta from an impact on the moon” this means that 2024 PT5 could be a small fragment of the actual moon.
  • Some researchers suggest that chances are 2024 PT5 does not qualify as a mini-moon. An asteroid has to orbit the Earth fully at least once2024 PT5 will perform a horseshoe-shaped orbit.

Why is this significant?

  • The observations of 2024 PT5 will help scientists expand the knowledge of asteroids that pass close to the Earth and those that sometimes collide with it.
  • Many asteroids contain valuable minerals and water, which companies hope to extract one day and use for purposes such as rocket fuel.

 

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