Planet Earth is parting ways with an asteroid that has been labeled its “mini-moon” for the past 60 days.
The harmless space rock will drift away from our planet tomorrow under the influence of the sun’s stronger gravity.
The asteroid will briefly come close again in January, when NASA will use a radar dish to observe the 10-meter-long rock, the AP reported.
Scientists hope that this will deepen our understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5. It is likely a rock that was lifted from the moon by an asteroid impact that formed a crater.
Although it is not technically a moon, as NASA emphasizes that it has never been “captured” by Earth’s gravity or fully orbited, it is, according to scientists, an “interesting object” worth studying.
