Attention, moon lovers! Get ready for a thrilling cosmic event: Earth will welcome a mini-moon! From September 29 to November 25, our planet will have a special guest—a tiny asteroid named 2024 PT5, which will hang out in our orbit for 56 days.
This asteroid, about 10 meters wide, is zooming towards us right now and will take a unique horseshoe path that makes it easy for scientists to track. While it won’t be visible to the naked eye (it’s too small and far away), you’ll need a powerful telescope—at least 76.2 cm with a digital detector—to glimpse this space rock.
2024 PT5 will be orbiting at a distance of about 1.5 million kilometers away, so even though it’s small, it’s still pretty exciting! This marks the fifth time we’ve spotted a mini-moon, and while little asteroids are common, having one captured in orbit around Earth is quite rare.
This cosmic visitor was discovered by a NASA-funded telescope in South Africa, part of a network that keeps an eye out for any dangerous asteroids. Interestingly, 2024 PT5 may have orbited Earth back in 1960, but no one noticed at the time!
After its brief stay, this mini-moon will venture away until it returns in 2055. The first mini-moon appeared in 1991, and the last one, 2020 CD3, orbited us from 2018 to 2020.
So mark your calendars and prepare for an astronomical treat! Earth is about to get a tiny but mighty companion in the sky!
