Did You Know Earth Will Have Temporarily Have Two Moons For Fall 2024?

OK, so this is kinda bonkers, very cool, and totally on brand for the astronomical year we have had so far. A leap year, a total solar eclipse, visible northern lights in the Midwest, a parade of multiple planets...

Just throw an extra moon in the mix! Nobody will notice! Not exactly a moon, but something experts are calling a "mini-moon" because it will be orbiting the Earth for a while. Scientists regularly monitor gravitational disturbances and interesting action in space.  Caused by the sun, it will sometimes "knock" a space rock from its normal path. Every once in a while, an asteroid will complete full orbits around the Earth a couple of times. This happens over the course of a year or two.

The "little" guy on his way now, named 2024 PT5, is gonna leave his cozy asteroid belt home for a short vacay as it travels in a horseshoe shape around us. Beginning September 29th, the trip should only last for about two months before heading back to its secondary Arjuna belt made up of various space rocks, space rocks, and comets.

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Research lead author and Universidad Complutense de Madrid professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos told Space.com in an interview, "You may say that if a true satellite is like a customer buying goods inside a store, objects like 2024 PT5 are window shoppers."

We'll have to wait to see the mini-moon until the professionals capture it with their massive telescopes. It won't be visible with the naked eye or binoculars, or standard telescopes. Professor Marcos and his team plan to study 2024 PT5's pathway and behavior to learn more about how and why this type of event happens.