September 29, under the influence of Earth’s Gravity This makes asteroid 2024 PT5 temporarily another of Earth’s moons.
However, 2024 PT5 is only 10 meters across, smaller than the moon (3,475 kilometers) and only has a magnitude of 22. It means that the object is not that bright. For example, the brightness of the sun is -26.8, the full moon is -12.7, and 7 is the limit of what the human eye can see.
That makes it impossible for us to see the Earth’s temporary moon with the naked eye. The same is true for telescopes in general. and it does not affect the night sky on Earth to change in any way
2024 PT5 was discovered on August 7, 2024 by the NASA-supported ATLAS (Earth Asteroid Impact Late Warning System) telescope. expected to enter Earth’s gravitational influence between September 29 – November 25, 2024
During its 56 days as Earth’s temporary lunar state, 2024 PT5 will enter a horseshoe orbit. Considered from a world-centered frame of reference It is a temporary orbit that is unstable. With a distance of about 3.4-4 million kilometers from the Earth and the speed relative to the Earth is between 7-1,577 kilometers per hour. before slipping back into deep space again
After leaving Earth’s temporary lunar status Asteroid 2024 PT5 is expected to come close to Earth again on January 9, 2025, at a distance of about 1,800,000 kilometers, and the next on November 8, 2055.
Astronomers have previously found temporary traces of Earth, such as asteroids 2006 RH120, 2020 CD3 and 2022 NX1, etc., which were pulled into temporary satellites by Earth’s gravity in a horseshoe orbit before falling back to later orbit around the sun It is not a stable orbit like the moon that we can see with the naked eye.
Currently, Saturn is the planet with the most moons in the solar system. With 146 confirmed moons, Jupiter is followed by 95 Earth moons in stable long-term orbit. This is despite the fact that it returns from the Earth about 3.8 centimeters a year.
The discovery of asteroid 2024 PT5 by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos was published in the September 2024 issue of the American Astronomical Society Research Journal.
Image: (asteroid simulation) ESA / P.Carril
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