Earth’s “mini-grain”, a small space rock that remained near it last year can actually be a part of the moon that was cut off thousands of years ago.

The celestial object, known as 2024 PT5, is about 10 meters wide. However, there is no risk of clashing with the Earth now or in the coming decades because of its orbit, according to researchers. After his close approach to Earth, 2024 PT5 slowly removes a new, longer orbit.

But strangely, the orbit of the object around the sun is similar to that of Earth, suggesting that the 2024 PT5 came from our own corner of the solar system.

Astronomers first identified asteroids on August 7 using the Observatory based in South Africa of the latest NASA or Atlas -funded Asteroid impact system.

Despite the predictions that the asteroid could become a temporary mini moon turning around the Earth, the space rock maintained a horseshoe orbit that brought him close, but in fact he never got into orbit around our planet. However, this mini-clay is still special as it is potentially a part of the real moon, said Dr. Teddy Caretta, a postdoctoral partner at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

“He was almost orbit around us for about two months. This kind of trajectory is fundamentally rare, so it should not be surprised that we still do not have a general term for it, ”he said.

Careta and his associates observed the object with the Lowell Discovery telescope and NASA’s infrared telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. As the sunlight reflected the surface of the PT5, the team realized that it looked very much like rocks recovered from the lunar surface.

“We had a general idea that this asteroid could come from the Moon, but what supported the case was when we discovered that it was rich in silicate minerals – not from what they look to asteroids but in those found in lunar samples. Rock, “Careta said. “It seems that he was not in space for a long time, maybe only a few thousand years.”

By excluding space garbage

Careta and his team members at the Lowell Observatory, who are studying asteroids near Earth in nearby orbits, were already observing the object before someone described it as a possible mini moon.

To ensure that the 2024 PT5 was not a piece of space waste, such as an old rocket, which can also be found on an earthy orbit, the group studied how the object moved.

Space rocks and constructed objects respond differently to the pressure of solar radiation or to the impetus of light particles from the sun. These quantum particles, called photons, exert a small force when they encounter objects in space. When many photons hit an object, they can accelerate it or slow it down.

“Space debris and space rocks are moving slightly differently in space,” said co-author of the study Oscar Fuentes-Muñoz, a postdoctoral collaborator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who worked with Cneos researchers. “The debris is usually relatively light and pushed by the pressure of sunlight. The fact that 2024 PT5 does not move in this way shows that it is much denser than space garbage. “

Robert Jedicke, an honorary expert in solar systems at the Hawaiian University Institute of Astronomy, believes that the argument that 2024 PT5 is of lunar origin is convincing because the authors of the study “have done an exhaustive analysis of all logical choices”. Jedicke did not participate in the new study.

Multiple studies on the subject have been published by his discovery in August, and a September work by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, a researcher at the Mathematics School at the University of Madrid, was one of the first. He said that most research has come to a similar conclusion on 2024 PT5 that this is a lunar piece.

Sorting lunar asteroids

If scientists can connect lunar asteroids to specific moon craters on the moon, space rocks could reveal more about the material on the lunar surface and below it.

So far, 2024 PT5 is only the second object in orbit similar to Earth. Astronomers found the asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa in 2016, which was also likely to be ejected from the surface of the moon after something hit the moon.

Caretta and his associates estimate that up to 16 asteroids of lunar origin have already been found and await confirmation.