An astronomer of Catalina Sky Survey at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona, he has discovered a cosmic intruder in the Earth’s orbit: a “miniluna.”
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The small asteroid, called 2020 CD3, was discovered by astronomers from Tucson, Arizona, on February 15.
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“BIG NEWS,” researcher Kacper Wierzchos tweeted. “The Earth has a new object temporarily captured / a possible mini moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of February 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found an object of magnitude 20 ”.
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Wierzchos said the object is about 6 feet to 11 feet wide, and its orbit suggests that it entered Earth’s orbit about three years ago.
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He added that the discovery is a “big problem” because of approximately 1 million known space rocks, the “miniluna” is “is only the second asteroid known to orbit the Earth, after 2006 RH120, which was also discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey. ”
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BIG NEWS (thread 1/3). Earth has a new temporarily captured object / Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. Here are the discovery images. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl
& mdash; Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
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In its official designation, the IAU said the observations “indicate that this object is temporarily attached to Earth.” The organization added: “There is no evidence of disturbances due to solar radiation pressure, and no link to a known artificial object has been found. It is strongly recommended to make more observations and dynamic studies. ”
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The last asteroid that was trapped in Earth’s orbit was 2006 RH120. The space rock, which orbits the Sun and passes near the Earth every few decades, was captured by the planet’s gravity in June 2006 and remained until around September 2007, before it returned to the solar system.
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As astronomers continue to observe the object, more information about the moon may be revealed in the coming weeks and months.
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