Earth has captured a small object from its orbit around the sun. It is probably part of a rocket that was used in 1966 to launch the Lander Surveyor 2 to the moon, space agency reports NASA.
The object was discovered through a telescope in Maui, Hawaii last September. Astronomers noted that this unknown object followed a clearly curved path in the sky, indicating that it is close to Earth.
It was believed to be an asteroid orbiting the sun. But scientists at the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at a NASA laboratory in Southern California saw the object’s orbit and suspected it was not a normal asteroid.
After investigation, it appears to be part of the rocket that was used to send the Surveyor 2 to the moon. That lander was launched to the man from this missile on September 20, 1966.
The launch was successful, but the failure of an interim course correction lost control of the spacecraft. On September 23, 1966, the spacecraft crashed into the moon. The rocket disappeared in an unknown path along the sun.
According to NASA, the piece of the rocket will be in a gravitational field around Earth for the next four months. In March 2021, the rocket is likely to return to a new orbit around the sun.
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