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The "second moon" can be seen in a new image taken by a two-meter twin telescope from Spain. Source: Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands
Astronomers have taken a farewell photo of the asteroid 2024 PT5, which has been hovering in the outskirts of our orbit for two months. Using a two-meter twin telescope, scientists have captured an image of a mini-moon flying away from the Earth.
The near-Earth asteroid was captured by the gravitational influence of our planet on September 29, 2024. And on November 25, it will return to the solar system, Space.com reports.
Since the beginning of the appearance of the asteroid 2024 PT5, scientist Carlos de la Fuente Marcos from the Complutense University of Madrid has been studying this "second moon" of the Earth. The scientist immediately said that this was a "temporary capture" of the space rock by the gravity of our planet and that it would soon leave us.
This prediction came true on Monday (November 25) when 2024 PT5 left Earth to return to the Arjuna asteroid belt. According to scientists, this secondary asteroid belt orbits the Sun in an orbit close to Earth's, at an average distance of about 150 million kilometers from the central star of the solar system.
Marcos and his colleagues studied the moon using the Two-Meter Twin Telescope (TTT), operated by the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. This allowed the team to make a number of discoveries about the asteroid. In particular, to suggest that its composition indicates that it could be a piece of the Moon.
According to NASA, the asteroid 2024 PT5 will return on January 9, 2025, and will come even closer to Earth than this time. However, traveling at a speed of approximately 3700 km/h, the space rock will move too fast to be trapped by the Earth's gravity and become a second satellite again.
The third rendezvous with this celestial object will take place in 2055, the researchers say. "According to the latest data, there will be no capture either," Marcos said.
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