Scientists have announced that the "mini satellite" asteroid "2024 PT5", which has been orbiting Earth since September, has been captured by the Sun's gravity and is now drifting out of orbit. It will make a final approach to Earth in January 2025 before disappearing until 2055.
According to The Guardian, "2024 PT5," which is thought to have been a piece of the Moon that broke off due to a collision with a meteorite centuries ago, orbits at a distance of about 3.2 million kilometers from Earth.
Currently tracked by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), the asteroid cannot be seen with the naked eye but can be observed with powerful telescopes.
Orbiting at a distance nine times the Moon's distance from Earth, the 10-meter-sized "mini satellite" "2024 PT5" does not pose a threat as it will not collide with Earth.
It is believed that "2024 PT5" is a rock fragment that broke off the Moon.
NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office researcher Josh Handal noted that other rockets were previously launched into similar orbits, but the movement of "2024 PT5" suggests it is a natural celestial object.
Handal added, "Given the similarity between the asteroid's motion and Earth's, scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object Center suspect that the object could be a large rock fragment that broke off the Moon's surface from an asteroid impact long ago."
"2024 PT5" will approach Earth again in January 2025 and NASA will study the asteroid using the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert.
Astrophysicist Raul de la Fuente Marcos from Complutense University in Madrid stated that since September, "2024 PT5" has been orbiting Earth in a horseshoe-shaped path, and its speed will dramatically increase due to the Sun's gravity, doubling at its January 2025 passage.
After completing its orbit around the Sun, the asteroid will return in 2055 and complete another orbit around Earth.
"2024 PT5" was first detected on August 7 by a telescope in South Africa, part of the ATLAS system, funded by NASA and operated by the University of Hawaii.
