Earth will catch a glimpse of a miniature “second moon” this week, NASA scientists report. The new moon is actually a small asteroid called 2024 PT5. It will begin orbiting the planet in a horseshoe-shaped orbit and will remain there for less than two months before exiting Earth’s gravity and returning to its normal orbit around the Sun.

“According to the latest data from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Horizons System, transient capture will begin at 3:54 PM EDT (Sunday) and end at 11:43 AM EDT on November 25,” said a minimoon event expert at Complutense University. he said. Madrid professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos told Space.com.

Marcos said 2024 PT5 is part of the “Arjuna asteroid belt, a secondary asteroid belt composed of space rocks with orbits very similar to those of Earth, at an average distance of 93 million miles from the Sun.”

He added that the asteroid, which poses no threat to the planet, will be moving at about 2,200 miles per hour while maintaining a distance of about 2.8 million miles from Earth. By comparison, the average distance between the Earth and the Moon is 238,855 miles. The moon is also significantly larger at approximately 3,559 miles in diameter compared to the asteroid’s smaller 37-foot width.

Unlike the Moon, 2024 PT5 will not be observable by ordinary stargazers due to its size.

“The object is too small and faint for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars. However, the object is within the brightness range of typical telescopes used by professional astronomers,” Markos said.

NASA’s Ground-Based Asteroid Last Warning System first detected the asteroid on August 7. Mini moons have occurred in the past. Asteroid 2022 NX1 entered Earth orbit in 1981 and 2022, according to BBC News.

Astronomer and podcaster Dr. “This story highlights how busy our solar system is and how much there is that we haven’t discovered because this asteroid was only discovered this year,” Jennifer Millard told BBC News.