Earth will soon have a “second moon,” scientists say. But very little and only for two months – BBC News Russian Service

This fall, scientists promise us a cosmic surprise: one of these days the Earth should have a second natural satellite – albeit a very small one: only about 10 meters in diameter – measure.

This is just the size of an asteroid, and its path runs so close to our planet (in fact, by cosmic standards), that when it approaches the Earth it will be captured by the gravitational field his and he will change his path, turning into another nature. earth satellite for several weeks.

In this capacity, the asteroid will accompany our planet for about two months – almost until the end of November.

Around the 25th, it will break again from the strong absorption of the earth’s gravity – and will continue its path independently of our planet.

Alas, it will be impossible to see the second moon with the naked eye: it is too small. For this you will need a professional telescope.

The asteroid, which received the official code of 2024 PT5 from astronomers, arrived from the Arjuna Belt – a large asteroid cloud made up of interplanetary rocks and boulders of various sizes and shapes, whose overall orbit is very similar to the shape of the Earth .

Sometimes individual asteroids pass particularly close to the Earth – at a distance of no more than 5 million km.

The first new asteroid was detected by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert (ATLAS) system – this happened on August 7th. Observing the approaching celestial body, scientists quickly calculated the asteroid’s alternate path, publishing their findings in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

If the calculations made by astronomers are correct, the asteroid moves at a very low speed – about 3.5 thousand km / h – so the Earth’s gravitational field can affect it enough to capture it for a while short.

So, starting from next weekend, this small asteroid will become our satellite, and it will accompany our planet in this capacity for almost two months – until around November 25th.

“It won’t make a complete revolution around our planet,” explained Jennifer Millard, host of the BBC’s astronomy podcast Awesome Astronomy. the asteroid on its own fascinating journey.

The length of the asteroid is about 10 m, which is completely incomparable to the Earth’s moon, which we know, and the diameter is almost 3500 km.

Due to its size and its rather obscure appearance (the asteroid is made of small rock), it will be impossible to see it from Earth – binoculars or even an amateur telescope will not help.

“It will be able to find professional telescopes,” Jennifer Millard said. “So there will certainly be a lot of amazing pictures on the internet of this tiny dot rushing past the stars at great speed. “

Mini-moon again noticed earlier and many others were, most likely, unnoticed by astronomers. Some of the recorded asteroids have even returned for a second visit: the first time asteroid 2022 NX1 became a “mini-moon” in 1981, and then again in 2022.

So, even if you can’t see the second moon, don’t worry. According to scientists’ predictions, PT5 will also return to the Earth’s orbit in 2024, and very soon – already in 2055.

“This shows how busy our solar system is and how much mystery it still has, as this asteroid was only discovered this year,” said Millard.

“There may be tens or even hundreds of thousands of objects that have yet to be discovered, which is why it is so important to continuously monitor the night sky in order to spot these objects all,” she concludes.