Asteroid 2024 PT5, which almost became a temporary mini-moon to Earth, was recently found to be a broken-off part of the moon itself. This discovery has led scientists to believe there are many more ...

For a brief, but exciting, time last year, Earth had two moons. A small asteroid lingered close to our planet in its orbit around the Sun, temporarily caught by Earth’s gravity to become a far away ...

The "mini-moon" designation, which is used to refer to ... The asteroid, known as 2024 PT5, was first spotted Aug. 7 by astronomers using the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert ...

Unlike other common asteroids, 2024 PT5 has an orbit close to Earth, and it therefore possibly could be brought from Earth itself or from the Moon. It was not gravitationally captured by Earth but ...

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 ...

By Becky Ferreira For a few months last fall, a school-bus-size space rock named 2024 PT5 gained fame as Earth’s new “mini-moon.” Astronomers rushed to study the object while it was still ...

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 ...

Using the Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, scientists analyzed 2024 PT5’s surface and discovered that the mini-moon reflects light almost ...

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