Earth gained a new — but temporary — orbiting companion on its way around the Sun.
The discreet quasi-satellite asteroid is called 2025 PN7 and should accompany our planet for more than half a century – more precisely in 2083, according to estimates made by astronomers at NASA and other observatories.
O however, is not exactly new to space agencies.
This is because, according to reports on the subject, the object has been present in our neighborhood for decades, since the 1960s.
According to records obtained by the project’s telescopes in Hawaii, 2025 PN7 has an estimated diameter between 18 and 36 meters.
Still according to the results, “Earth’s second moon” – popular name given to asteroide – belongs to a group of celestial bodies that share the same orbit as the Earth around the Sun, following it without necessarily being tied to its gravity.
Why “Earth’s second moon”?
What caught scientists’ attention is its movement: 2025 PN7 moves almost exactly at the same pace as the Earth, completing its turn around the Sun in the same time as us – In other words, because it moves in synchrony with the Earth, it was popularly nicknamed “Earth’s second moon”.
However, unlike the traditional Moon, it does not orbits our planetbut rather the being classified as a “quasi-satellite” – an object that travels close to the Earth, but without a permanent gravitational link.
Despite its name, the celestial body is discreet, difficult to observe and is only detected by high-precision telescopes.
After years of observation, astronomers came to the conclusion that the asteroid poses no risk to Earth; it maintains a stable and safe orbit, without getting dangerously close and without affecting natural phenomena such as tides or weather.
