2024 PT5 is a near-Earth object roughly 11 meters (36 ft) in diameter discovered by ATLAS South Africa, Sutherland on 7 August 2024, the day before approaching Earth at 568,500 km (353,200 mi).[3]
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | ATLAS South Africa, Sutherland |
| Discovery date | 7 August 2024 |
| Designations | |
| 2024 PT 5 | |
| A119q0V | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 2024-Oct-17 (JD 2460600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 1 | |
| Observation arc | 78 days |
| Aphelion | 1.03404603 AU (Q) |
| Perihelion | 0.99056401 AU (q) |
| 1.01230502 AU (a) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.02147674 (e) |
| 1.01853344 years | |
| 323.67717° (M) | |
| Inclination | 1.520524° (i) |
| 305.5725° (Ω) | |
| 2024-Nov-23.53554 | |
| 116.2484° (ω) | |
| Earth MOID | 0.0060782 AU (909,290 km; 2.3654 LD) |
| Jupiter MOID | 3.95662 AU (591,902,000 km) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions |
|
| ≤ 1h | |
| 27.4 | |
Orbit
editThe object orbits the Sun but makes slow close approaches to the Earth–Moon system. Between 29 September (19:54 UTC) and 25 November 2024 (16:43 UTC) (a period of 1 month and 27 days)[4] it passed just outside Earth's Hill sphere (roughly 0.01 AU [1.5 million km; 0.93 million mi]) at a low relative velocity (in the range 0.002 km/s (4.5 mph) – 0.439 km/s [980 mph]) and will become temporarily captured by Earth's gravity, with a geocentric orbital eccentricity of less than 1[5] and negative geocentric orbital energy.[6] The most recent closest approach to Earth was 8 August 2024 at roughly 567,000 km (352,000 mi) when it had a relative velocity of 1.37 km/s (3,100 mph).[2]
On 18 August 2024 CNEOS removed 2024 PT5 from their Sentry Risk Table, having determined it poses no risk of a potential Earth impact.[7]
The object is expected to make another approach in 2055.[8]
| Epoch | Earth distance[9] | Geocentric eccentricity[5] |
Apogee[5] | Orbital period[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-Sep-29 | 0.0230 AU (3.44 million km) | 1.016 | ||
| 2024-Sep-30 | 0.0232 AU (3.47 million km) | 0.997 | 2.9 AU (430 million km) | 99.84 years (36,468 d) |
| 2024-Oct-24 | 0.0268 AU (4.01 million km) | 0.614 | 0.028 AU (4.2 million km) | 1.35 years (493 d) |
| 2024-Nov-25 | 0.0238 AU (3.56 million km) | 0.983 | 0.72 AU (108 million km) | 127.24 years (46,473 d) |
| 2024-Nov-26 | 0.0236 AU (3.53 million km) | 1.009 |
Physical properties
editIts reflectance spectrum in the range 350–2,350 nanometres (3,500–23,500 Å) obtained with LDT/IRTF is inconsistent with artificial objects and asteroids, its surface is quite red, well matched by samples of the Moon, both Maria and Highlands.[10] However, its visible spectrum obtained with GTC is consistent with that of an Sv-type asteroid or perhaps lunar ejecta.[11] Its color indices and the spectrum obtained with Gemini North best matches lunar rock samples followed by S-complex asteroids.[12] Its rotation period is 1 hour or less.[11]
See also
edit- 1991 VG – near-Earth asteroid temporarily captured by Earth after its discovery in 1991
- 2006 RH120 – the first temporary Earth satellite discovered in situ 2006
- 2020 CD3 – another temporary Earth satellite discovered in 2020
- 2022 NX1 – another temporary Earth satellite discovered in 2022
- 2020 SO – a suspected near-Earth object identified as a rocket booster from the 1966 Surveyor 2 mission
- Arjuna asteroid
References
edit- ^ "MPEC 2024-P170 : 2024 PT5". IAU Minor Planet Center. 14 August 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024. (K24P05T)
- ^ a b "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2024 PTR5)" (last observation: 28 August 2024; arc: 21 days (122 obs)). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "2024 PT5 Orbit". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ Earth to capture a 'second moon' this weekend, NASA says
- ^ a b c d "JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris for 2024 PT5 orbit of Earth (geocentric) for September – November 2024". JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 10 September 2024. Geocentric solution. Ephemeris Type: Orbital Elements / Center: @399
- ^ de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl (10 September 2024). "A Two-month Mini-moon: 2024 PT5 Captured by Earth from September to November". Research Notes of the AAS. 8 (9): 224. Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8..224D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad781f.
- ^ "Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring". JPL/CNEOS.
- ^ DUNN, MARCIA. "Earth's 'mini moon' may have been a chunk of our actual moon". Associated Press. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
- ^ "Horizons Batch for September – November 2024 Geocentric distance" (Escaping Earth's Hill Sphere @ ~0.01au). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 10 September 2024. (JPL#2/Soln.date: 2024-Aug-30)
- ^ "LDT/IRTF reflectance spectrum" (PDF) (350-2350 nm spectrum). International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN). Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ a b de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; de León, Julia; Serra-Ricart, Miquel; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; Alarcon, Miguel R.; Licandro, Javier; Geier, Stefan; Tejero, Alvaro; Perez Romero, Alberto; Perez-Toledo, Fabricio; Cabrera-Lavers, Antonio (15 November 2024). "Basaltic mini-moon: Characterizing 2024 PT5 with the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias and the Two-meter Twin Telescope". arXiv:2411.08834 [astro-ph.EP].
- ^ Bolin, Bryce T.; Denneau, Larry; Abron, Laura-May; Jedicke, Robert; Chiboucas, Kristin; Ingerbretsen, Carl; Lemaux, Brian C. (November 2024). "The discovery and characterization of minimoon 2024 PT5". arXiv:2411.08029 [astro-ph.EP].
