The asteroid about 10 meters that was nicknamed “second moon” when orbiting the earth for a few weeks in 2024 may have more to do with our moon than it was imagined before.
A study published this month at Astrophysical Journal Letters It gathers evidence that indicates that the asteroid 2024 PT5 has a close origin: it appears to be a broken piece of rock that released from the moon surface and was ejected into space after a major impact.
“We had a general idea that this asteroid could have come from the moon, but the full proof was when we found that it was rich in silicate minerals – not the type that is seen in asteroids, but those found in lunar rock samples ”Teddy Kareta, astronomer of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, which led the research to NASA.
Kareta’s team then used observations from the Lowell Discovery telescope and the installation of the NASA infrared telescope at the Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii, to show that the spectrum of sunlight reflected on the surface of the small object did not correspond to any known type of asteroid . The light reflected by the 2024 PT5 was closer to that reflected by the moon rocks.
Asteroid acted like our “second moon” for a few weeks between September and October 2024.
These episodes, also called mini-talls, happen with a certain frequency, and usually last a short period of time, less than a complete orbit. When these celestial objects arrive near Earth – about 4.5 million km – at a low speed – about 3,500 km/h – they can be captured by the earth’s orbit and act like a temporary moon.
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This content was originally published in asteroid that orbited the earth in 2024 is a piece of the moon that released on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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