The Earth will get a second moon for about two months this year when a small asteroid begins to orbit our planet. This is reported by CBS News, according to UNN.
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It is noted that the asteroid was discovered in August and will become a mini-moon, orbiting the Earth in a horseshoe shape from September 29 to November 25.
Researchers with the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, a NASA-funded asteroid monitoring system, spotted the asteroid with an instrument in Sutherland, South Africa, and labeled it 2024 PT5.
Scientists from the Complutense University of Madrid tracked the asteroid's orbit for 21 days and determined its future path. 2024 PT5 belongs to the Arjuna asteroid belt, which orbits the Sun, according to their study published in the AAs Research Notes.
However, the Earth's gravitational pull will attract 2024 PT5, and, like our Moon, it will orbit our planet - but only for 56.6 days.
Although other extraterrestrial objects, or NEOs, have entered Earth orbit before, some of them do not complete a full orbit around the Earth. Some, however, do and become so-called mini-satellites.
Asteroid 2020 CD3 orbited the Earth for several years before leaving in 2020, and another, 2022 NX1, became a mini-satellite of the Earth in 1981 and 2022 and will return again in 2051.
In 2024, PT5, which is larger than some other mini-satellites, will also return to Earth's orbit in 2055.