Earth’s Mini-Moon Mystery Solved: It’s a Chunk of the Moon
For a brief, but exciting, time last year, Earth had two moons. A small asteroid lingered close to our planet in its orbit around the Sun, temporarily caught by Earth’s gravity to become a far away mini-moon. A closer look at the space rock reveals a rather familiar origin: Earth’s mini-moon might actually be a broken-off piece of our regular Moon.
NASA: Near-Earth Asteroid Likely Came from the Moon
The asteroid is about 33 feet (10 meters) across and poses no danger to Earth. It joins another known lunar asteroid discovered in 2016 known as 469219 Kamo’oalewa. Scientists hope that as telescopes become more powerful, we will be able to detect more bits of the Moon that have been blasted free in ancient impacts.
Earth’s Mini-Moon Was Probably a Piece of Its Real Moon
Scientists think a small rock discovered near Earth last August was hurled into space by an ancient impact on the lunar surface.
Study finds that Earth's small asteroid visitor is likely a chunk of moon rock
A near-Earth object was likely ejected into space after an impact thousands of years ago. Now it could contribute new insights to asteroid and lunar science.
NASA Discovers Near-Earth Asteroid Likely a Lunar Fragment
The small near-Earth object 2024 PT5 captured the world’s attention last year after a NASA-funded telescope discovered it lingering close to, but never orbiting, our planet for several months.
Earth's recent asteroid visitor might've been a piece of the moon
2024 PT5 is the second near-Earth asteroid scientists suspect was ejected from the moon's surface, the first being 469219 Kamo'oalewa, which a different team of scientists have traced to an old impact crater on the far side of the moon.
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Earth Had a Tiny Second Moon for a Few Months. It Might Be A Chunk of the Moon
For a few months, Earth had a second moon — a tiny asteroid that may have been a piece of our own Moon ...
Bright Comet's Tail Dazzles in 'Bleeding' Images from NASA Spacecraft
Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) came within 8.3 million miles of the sun on January 13 as it reached its perihelion, and is now ...
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A full moon, a bold Mars and a new comet brighten January’s skies
Comet ATLAS, or C/2024 G3 to astronomers, was spotted last April by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System and shares the name of many other comets discovered by the network of ...