Peter Carril/ESA
2022 NX1, which followed a trajectory similar to that of the “mini-moon” that was recently in Earth’s orbit.
The second moon that Earth gained at the end of September is already leaving. It left our orbit this Tuesday, but it didn’t leave without leaving us with a surprising clue.
The object, about 10 meters in diameter, called 2024 PT5was discovered on August 7 and in orbit around our planet for 56.6 days.
Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos, from the Complutense University of Madrid, studied the trajectory of this “mini-moon”, which made a “horseshoe orbit”.
But a closer look at 2024 PT5 during its time near Earth revealed some surprises. Preliminary spectroscopic data suggests that the minimoon may have originated… on our Moon.
Astrophysicists noted that the visible spectrum of this supposed “mini-moon” aligns with that of an Sv-type asteroid, but it also resembles the lunar mare breacha type of rock formed by lunar volcanic activity and impact events, according to . This suggests that the 2024 PT5 It could actually be a fragment of the Moonejected into space after an ancient collision, according to the study on arXiv on November 17.
Importantly, these findings have not yet been peer-reviewed. The minimoon is expected to return in just over a month, in January 2025 — and then 2055, 2084 and 2085 — so that more studies and radar can be conducted by NASA.
The September survey, published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society., highlights that Earth periodically captures and releases asteroids from the Near-Earth Object (NEO) population. Astronomers believe these rare and intriguing “mini-moons” offer valuable opportunities for scientific exploration and potential space mining. Asteroids like 2024 PT5 can serve as refueling stations on longer space journeys.
