Asteroids are ripe for mining. Some contain gold or platinum. Others could help make rocket fuel. When they're mini-moons, ...

The object, roughly the size of a bus, became temporarily captured by Earth’s gravity, earning it the moniker of a “mini-moon.” What sets 2024 PT5 apart is its composition, which bears a ...

were already observing the object before anyone dubbed it a potential mini-moon. To ensure that 2024 PT5 wasn’t a hunk of space debris, like an old rocket, which can also be found in an ...

The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size ... The space rock — 2024 PT5 — was first spotted in August by astronomers at Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope ...

Discovered in August 2024, PT5’s silicate-rich composition rules out an artificial origin. The study, led by Theodore Kareta (Lowell Observatory) and Oscar Fuentes-Munoz (NASA JPL), is available ...

That should deepen scientists’ understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5, quite possibly a boulder ... who identified the asteroid’s “mini moon behavior,” Raul and Carlos de la Fuente ...

Athena beamed back images from the surface of the moon despite landing sideways on March 6. This unhelpful orientation meant, however, that the lander could not generate power due to the position ...