Starting this weekend, the earth will have two moons for a few months while a small asteroid flies by.
The asteroid, dubbed 2024 PT 5, is 11 metres in diameter and on Sunday will pass close enough to earth to be influenced by its gravitational pull. However, the slow-moving rock won’t even make one full orbit around the earth before the sun’s gravity re-captures it, pulling it back into deep space.
The asteroid is part of the Arjuna group, asteroids that trail our planet as we orbit the sun. It will be too small to spot in the sky without powerful telescopes and long-exposure photography.
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By the end of November, the asteroid will be back on its journey away from earth.
