The Earth loses one of its satellites. The asteroid 2024 PT5, which has been orbiting Earth for several weeks, is moving away from the blue planet this Monday, November 25, reports the Associated Press.
The asteroid will gradually move away, defeated by the Sun’s gravity, after having formed a kind of satellite around the Earth for almost two months, like the Moon does, hence the nickname “mini Moon”, which has been given to it. the scientists.
“The recently discovered small celestial body 2024 PT 5 follows a horseshoe trajectory and will become a mini Moon in 2024, from September 29 to November 25,” the researchers announced last September in the scientific journal RNAAS.
A piece of the Moon?
The asteroid, which measures approximately 10 meters wide, was discovered by researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, on August 7.
Although it is not strictly a Moon, because it is not completely in orbit around the Earth and has not been captured by Earth’s gravity, 2024 PT5 is still an “interesting object” for science, according to NASA.
Still little known, this asteroid could be a piece of the Moon that broke off after being hit by another asteroid, according to researchers.
In January 2025
2024 PT5 is currently more than 3.5 million kilometers from our planet and can only be observed through a powerful telescope.
The “minimoon”, however, should return close to Earth in January 2025. It will then be located 1.8 million kilometers from the blue planet and can be observed by NASA scientists using a very powerful radar antenna.
Then it will move away again, moving at twice the speed it did last September. His next visit is not scheduled until 2055.
Source: BFM TV
