【Watch Good Boys Use Condoms (1998)】

Source：Steady Information Network Editor：Tech Time：2025-06-26 09:21:18

Astronomers have Watch Good Boys Use Condoms (1998)discovered that Earth's large, ever-looming moonis about to get company.

Beginning on Sunday, the planet will capture an asteroidsailing nearby, drawing it in for one loop around Earth before making its exit on Nov. 25. When it leaves, it will continue its trajectory around the sun. The two-month visit puts this spacerock in the class of so-called "mini-moons."

The asteroid getting its proverbial 15 minutes of fame is called 2024 PT5, discovered with the help of a NASA-funded asteroid detection system and a South African observatory in August. But before digging out binoculars from the closet, know this: It's only 33 feet wide — about the length of a Greyhound bus — and not bright enough to view with the naked eye or an amateur telescope.

SEE ALSO: NASA's Mars rovers had a gangbusters summer of rocks Viewing the moon from Earth

Scientists suspect Earth's only fixed-orbit moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago. Credit: NASA

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Throughout the solar system, close to 300 moonsorbit the eight planets and Pluto, and scientists often find new ones as survey methods improve. The vast majority of moons circle gas giants Saturn and Jupiter.

They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but their defining characteristic is that they orbit another cosmic object larger than themselves. While these natural satellites are quite common, moons are special to humans because Earth has just one in a fixed orbit — albeit a big rocky oneroughly one-quarter Earth's size about 239,000 miles away.

Earth has captured asteroids and pulled them into orbit with its gravity before, but often these space rocksfly by without completing a full circuit around the planet. Compared to mini-moons of the recent past, 2024 PT5 is a short-timer. In July 2006, a visitor dubbed RH120stayed in orbit around Earth for a year before getting flung out in July 2007. Astronomers believe one that escaped in May 2020 could have been sweeping around the planet for several years.

Related Stories

NASA's Mars rovers had a gangbusters summer of rocks
Webb telescope is about to home in on these 2 exoplanets. Here's why.
A space company is headed to Mars this fall. No, it's not SpaceX.
NASA finds Earth's moon didn't need hundreds of years to form. Try hours.
What's on the far side of the moon? Well, not darkness.

Throughout the solar system, close to 300 moons orbit the eight planets and Pluto, and scientists are often finding new ones as survey methods improve. Credit: NASA composition illustration

Two astronomers from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain made the latest mini-moon discovery while calculating the dynamics of near-Earth objects. Their findings were publishedin the journal Research Notes of the AAS. Prior research through NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert Systemhad already shown that the space rock was not a threat to smashing into Earth.

While studying 2024 PT5's path, the research duo, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos, could also trace back to its origin. The space rock likely came from the so-called Arjuna asteroid belt, a group of small rocks concentrated near Earth that was discovered in the early 1990s.

Featured Video For You

10 mind-blowing discoveries from the James Webb Telescope

Topics NASA

Previous：Shop the Shark FlexStyle for 20% off at Amazon

Next：Nintendo Switch 2 preorder just days away, per leak

【Watch Good Boys Use Condoms (1998)】

Related Articles

Related Recommendations

Categories

Latest Articles

Popular Articles

Hot Recommendations

Featured Column

Quick Links

Quick Links