Comment on Earth will have a temporary ‘mini moon’ for two months

By CHRISTINA LARSON, AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth’s moon will soon have some company — a “mini moon.” The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 33 feet (10 meters). When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe — but only for about two months. The space rock — 2024 PT5 — was first spotted in August by astronomers at Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa. These short-lived mini moons are likely more common than we realize, said Richard Binzel, an astronomer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.