Earth must be putting off some cosmic-level lonely vibes, because it’s set to pull in a new companion in just a few days.  On September 29th (a week from this Sunday) an asteroid will pass close enough that it will be pulled into Earth’s orbit!

Earth to get new #moon as planet’s gravity captures rare space rock. Although it will be just for two months, it does show the power of the planet’s gravity at work 🌔 Animation: @tony873004 pic.twitter.com/Y8SCKFGfSC

— Sibu Tripathi 🪂 (@imsktripathi) September 14, 2024

This is apparently called a phenomenon known by astronomers as a “temporary captured flyby.”  This asteroid, technically labeled 2024 PT5, will be in the grip of Earth’s orbit for about two months.  Check out this video for a quick explanation of this crazy event:

The earth is going to get a new moon for a couple months, a relatively small one called 2024 PT5. pic.twitter.com/DdCZ3Lx05L

— Planet Of Memes (@PlanetOfMemes) September 20, 2024

According to a write-up in the Daily Mail, 2024 PT5 was spotted last month using NASA’S ATLAS system:

Starting September 29, this ‘mini-moon’ will make a single orbit around Earth before moving on to other regions of the solar system.

This 33-foot-wide asteroid, now named 2024 PT5, was first spotted on August 7 by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), which may be seen using certain telescopes.

Researchers tracked the ‘mini-moon’s’ trajectory, finding it will briefly take up residence in Earth’s gravitational field until November 25.

When near-Earth objects – asteroids and comets – come within 28 million miles of Earth’s orbit, they follow a horseshoe-shaped path.

The orbit brings the objects closer to our planet at a low relative speed, which temporarily traps in Earth’s orbit like 2024 PT5 will.

Earth is getting a new moon!

Asteroid 2024 PT5, 10 meters in diameter rock, will be captured by Earth’s gravity in late September 2024.

It'll swing in orbit around the Earth before escaping our gravity after ~53 days.

___
Video credit NASA Space News pic.twitter.com/68injiKEaP

— Samuel Peralta, PhD (@Semaphore) September 18, 2024

The origins of this asteroid were concluded to be the Arjuna asteroid belt which orbits the sun in a trajectory similar to Earth’s, and those findings were published by a group of researchers in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, according to the Daily Mail article referenced earlier.  The article goes on to point out that not all astronomers share that theory.

Tony Dunn, an amateur astronomer who creates orbit simulations, posted an animation of the path 2024 PT5 will take as it circles our planet. Dunn was not involved in the study.

Observing the asteroid’s trajectory also allowed researchers to trace it back to its origin.

They concluded that it most likely came from the Arjuna asteroid belt, a group of many asteroids with orbits around the sun similar to Earth’s.

The researchers published their findings in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

But Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) who was not involved in the study, told the New York Times that 2024 PT5 may have a different origin story.

The asteroid’s past movements suggested that it’s ‘possibly a piece of ejecta from an impact on the moon,’ Chodas said, meaning that this mini-moon may be a fragment that broke free from our actual moon.

I have a hunch that Paul Chodas’ “origin story” for 2024 PT5 may be right!  It would certainly line up with the findings of Dr. Walt Brown, the originator of The Hydroplate Theory — the most comprehensive scientific model I’ve ever seen that tries to describe the physical realities of the Genesis flood!  For anyone interested, here’s an overview of Walt Brown’s Hydroplate Theory.  (Spoiler Alert: Walt Brown thinks that our moon’s current landscape, and a lot of the asteroids and comets in our solar system, can be traced to the Genesis flood event!)

If you really want to go deep into The Hydroplate Theory model of the Biblical flood, you absolutely have to get a copy of Walt Brown’s book, “In The Beginning” — or… here’s a continually updated online version!  Warning: This is a technical scientific approach to the Genesis flood!  But if you’re into that sort of thing… you will LOVE THIS!

So let’s get back to our soon-to-be asteroid moon!  According to an article in Live Science, it is not completely uncommon for Earth to capture “mini moons” by forming temporary cosmic bonds:

Our planet occasionally snags extra moons. For instance, a similar event occurred in 1981 and 2022, when the object 2022 NX 1 became an ephemeral companion to our planet before swinging further away, the astronomers noted. The researchers published their findings in September in the journal Research Notes of the AAS.

“Earth can regularly capture asteroids from the Near-Earth object (NEO) population and pull them into orbit, making them mini-moons,” the researchers wrote in the paper. “The recently discovered Apollo-class NEO 2024 PT5 follows a path that resembles that of 2022 NX1 and may soon become a mini-moon.”

NASA deems any space object that comes within about 120 million miles (190 million kilometers) of Earth a “near-Earth object” and classifies any large object within around 4.7 million miles (7.5 million km) of our planet as “potentially hazardous.” NASA tracks the locations and orbits of roughly 28,000 asteroids usingATLAS, an array of four telescopes that performs a scan of the entire night sky every 24 hours.

If you’re anything like me, you’re wondering if this “mini moon” could be seen on a clear night.  Unfortunately the small size makes that impossible without help — it’s only about 33 feet across.  Check out this great video put out by The Daily Guardian on YouTube:

I can’t help but wonder if Elon Musk is rushing to put a mission together to get core samples of our approaching asteroid visitor.  Who knows what this thing is actually made of!  And even though they tell us over and over — I won’t be able to help myself from looking for it when I know it’s up there.  After all, the heavens declare the glory of God!  And we can use all we can get, right about now.