Earth's New "Mini-Moon": 4 Things To Know

news image
Top Stories
23 Sep 2024 8:30 AM

Earth is about to get a new asteroid friend, but not the kind that crashes and causes havoc. It’s more of an “in-laws that overstay their welcome” kind of situation. Here’s what you need to know about a new mini-moon: 

What’s happening? 

Back in August, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) program discovered a roughly 10-meter-wide asteroid from the Arjuna asteroid belt that will get close enough to Earth to classify it as a “mini-moon” starting on September 29th. The report published in the American Astronomical Society journal, said asteroid 2024 PT5 will make a horseshoe shaped orbit around our planet over the course of 57 days; ending on November 25th. 

 

What is a “Mini-Moon"? 

“Mini-moons” can range from asteroids to random pieces of space junk floating around. These near-Earth objects will enter Earth’s gravitational pull and will often complete at least a partial revolution around our planet. Sometimes the object doesn’t even complete a full revolution before exiting and continuing its regular heliocentric trajectories.  While asteroid 2024 PT5 won’t complete a full orbit of Earth, some astronomers may call it a “temporarily captured flyby”. 

Will I be able to see it? 

Short answer: no. 

Long answer: 2024 PT5 won’t be bright enough, even with a typical home telescope.  

NASA classifies how bright celestial objects are by their magnitude. Low numbers, including negatives, are brighter, while higher numbers are fainter. 

2024 PT5 has a magnitude of 27.595. The naked eye can see objects as faint as roughly 6.5 magnitude, and a traditional 12-inch telescope can see things with magnitudes between 16-17. To put it in perspective, the moon sits at –13 magnitude.  

Is this a rare event? 

These phenomena aren’t partially rare as the Earth can capture Near Earth Objects all the time. In 2022, a mini-moon called Asteroid 2022 YG entered the Earth’s orbit. Our planet has had a repeated visitor of 2022 NX1 asteroid who became a mini-moon in both 1981 and 2022. That asteroid won’t be back until 2051 though.  

In fact, this happens so often, some researchers believe Earth always has at least one mini-moon hovering in space.  

 

All Weather News
More
Blizzard Warnings Issued - Nor'easter Takes Aim at the Atlantic Coast

Blizzard Warnings Issued - Nor'easter Takes Aim at the Atlantic Coast

Storms have seemingly been drawn to the North

22 Feb 2026 3:15 AM
Next Pacific System Brings Flood Potential To Oregon & California

Next Pacific System Brings Flood Potential To Oregon & California

Inches of rain and feet of snow fell across t

22 Feb 2026 3:00 AM
Elevated Fire Danger For Florida and the South

Elevated Fire Danger For Florida and the South

While temperatures will cool across the South

22 Feb 2026 2:55 AM
Strong Storms Target the Southeast

Strong Storms Target the Southeast

A developing storm system is expected to brin

21 Feb 2026 7:55 PM
New England Snow & Ice Into Saturday

New England Snow & Ice Into Saturday

Snow has become more widespread across Upstat

21 Feb 2026 3:15 AM
Major Storm System Winds Down in California

Major Storm System Winds Down in California

CALIFORNIA - After almost a week of relentles

21 Feb 2026 3:10 AM
Wildfire Danger: Red Flag Warnings Persist Into Saturday

Wildfire Danger: Red Flag Warnings Persist Into Saturday

PLAINS - Multiple active fires broke out earl

21 Feb 2026 3:00 AM