Earth Officially Has Two Moons!

Earthlings, rejoice! You can officially say we’ve got two moons now!

Wait... What?

You read it right! On September 29 (Sunday), our beautiful planet captured a small asteroid into its orbit. This 10 meter wide asteroid, named 2024 PT5, will orbit Earth for just 57 days, before continuing on its journey around the Solar System. On November 25, it is expected to break free from Earth's gravity, and resume its regular orbit around the Sun.

Should We Be Worried?

Not really! This asteroid is too tiny to do any real damage on Earth. Even if it enters our atmosphere (which it most likely will not), it will harmlessly burn up before reaching the ground, just like we see in the meteor showers.

These temporary moons of Earth are rare, but not unheard of. We also had a temporary visitor (2020 CD3) that stayed in orbit for 3 whole years, before finally leaving in 2020. These temporary "moons" are some of the Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that come too close to Earth and get trapped by its gravity temporarily.

An Indian Touch...

This asteroid belongs to an asteroid belt called the Arjuna asteroid belt. The asteroids in this belt (called Arjunas) have a similar orbits to that of Earth, and are NEOs. This belt has been named after Arjuna, as the orbits of Arjunas are as unpredictable as Arjuna's arrows are said to be.

How does this happen?

Occasionally, some NEOs come close enough to Earth to get caught by its gravity. Then, they orbit Earth for some time in orbits having high eccentricity before drifting back into space.

An animation of the orbit of 2020 CD3, showing the high eccentricity.
Credit: Wikipedia

This happens when the speed and trajectory of the asteroid are perfectly aligned with the gravitational field on Earth creating a "temporary capture".

Can we see it?

Due to its small size, 2024 PT5 cannot be seen by the naked eye. Even having a pair of powerful binoculars or a small telescope is not going to help you much. It can only be captured using professional equipment.

What next?

2024 PT5 will continue orbiting Earth for 57 days till November 25, when it will break free from Earth's gravitational pull and continue on its orbit around the Sun.

So, if you meet any aliens in the next 57 days, don't forget to flex about having 2 moons in orbit to them! 😉

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That is all for today! Don't forget to share this to other people who still don't know about this (bruh).

Clear skies,
Aarav Iyer

References:
(1) Wikipedia (Arjuna Asteroid Belt)
(2) Wikipedia (2020 CD3)
(3) Economic Times
(4) Wikipedia (2024 PT5)