How Can You See the ‘Mini Moon’ Asteroid 2024 PT5 Orbiting Earth?

In two days, on 29 September, Earth will get a temporary companion – asteroid 2024 PT5. The trajectory of this 10-meter asteroid leads near Earth, so our planet’s gravity will capture it. For about two months, we will have two moons. After that, the asteroid will follow its own trajectory in heliocentric orbit, by 25 November 2024. However, it will come close to Earth again on 9 January 2025.

Scientists think that 2024 PT5 likely came from the Arjuna asteroid belt, a group of space rocks that follow Earth-like orbits around the sun. The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), a NASA-funded program, discovered it on 7 August.

Can You See the Mini Moon Asteroid From Earth?

The asteroid is thought to be around 10 or 11 metres wide – making it too small to be seen with the naked eye and will only be visible using powerful telescopes. At the same time, it’s too faint, according to the NASA JPL Small-Body Database. Scientists say that asteroid 2024 PT5 has extremely low absolute magnitude of 22, which means the ‘mini moon’ is too dim even for backyard binoculars or telescopes.

Still, scientists and astronomers can observe the asteroid with professional 30-inch telescopes.

2024 PT5 is not the first ‘mini Moon’ caught by Earth’s gravity

Although the idea of Earth getting a second moon sounds amazing, there were previous cases of getting ‘mini-moons’.

Asteroid 2024 PT5 is not the first celestial body captured by Earth. Scientists have officially documented two previous “short captures”—a type of asteroid capture that lasted about a week and is estimated to occur several times a decade. There are also cases of “long-term captures,” which can last for years, during which the temporary moon can make several orbits around Earth.