Second moon

Earth will get a 'second moon' for 57 days later this month

Story by Jen Mills

Earth is about to flirt with a new natural satellite, gaining a second ‘mini moon’ for 57 days.

Our relationship with THE moon has lasted around 4.6 billion years, so she doesn’t have to feel too threatened.

But the newcomer, an asteroid set to be ‘captured’ by our planet’s gravity on September 29, is getting attention as it’s a rare occurrence for us to get an additional space rock companion.

Named 2024 PT5, it is only ten metres long, so a tiny speck compared to the moon itself.

It is set to be pulled into a brief whirl around before flying back into space on November 25, after 56.6 days alongside us.

The new little friend was reported in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, which said that Near-Earth objects (NEOs) approaching at close range ‘may undergo mini-moon events in which their geocentric energy becomes negative for hours, days or months’.