But as a mini-moon, Asteroid 2024 PT5 isn’t in any danger of colliding with Earth now or over the next few decades, de la Fuente Marcos said. Asteroid 2020 CD3 is considered a long-capture mini-moon, while the newly detected Asteroid 2024 PT5 is a short-capture one. Short mini-moon events can occur several times per decade, but long mini-moon events are rare, and only occur every 10 or 20 years, de la Fuente Marcos said. “In order to become a mini-moon, an incoming body has to approach Earth slowly at close range,” de la Fuente Marcos said. After 56.6 days, the sun’s gravitational pull will bring Asteroid 2024 PT5 back into its normal orbit.

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Persons: PT5, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, la Fuente Marcos, orbiters, flybys, It’s, ”, Robert Jedicke, ” Jedicke, Jedicke, “ Organizations: CNN, American Astronomical Society, Astronomers, NASA, Complutense University of Madrid, University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, Gran, Canarias, Telescope Locations: South Africa, Chelyabinsk, Russia, Hiroshima, Japan, Mars, Canary, Earth