Planet Earth, seen from space. – N.A.S.A./SIPA
It’s not just the Moon that orbits the Earth. Scientists Minor Planet Center (Center for the Study of Minor Planets) have just announced that, for about three years, a second moon had entered Earth’s orbit, reports The New Scientist.
BIG NEWS (thread 1/3). Earth has a new temporarily captured object / Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. Here are the discovery images. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl
– Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
His little name? “2020 CD3”. It was observed by Theodore Pruyne and Kacper Wierzchos, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey, in the US state of Arizona, the science magazine said. This “minilune” is not very large, since its size is estimated between 1.90 and 3.50 meters. Or the dimensions of a car.
Already in the process of leaving Earth’s orbit
However, stresses The New Scientist, “It’s only the second known asteroid to orbit the Earth.” The 2006 RH120 celestial body had preceded it, remaining close to Earth between September 2006 and June 2007 before escaping. It should end the same way for “2020 CD3” which is not in stable orbit. “It is already moving away from the Earth-Moon system when I speak to you”, explained to New Scientist researcher Grigori Fedorets, Queen’s University of Belfast. It should have left Earth orbit by about April.
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