Newly Discoveredโฃ Asteroid 2025 PN7 Orbits Earth as ‘Quasi-Moon’ after Decades Undetected
Astronomers have confirmed that a โคsmall asteroid,โค designated 2025 PN7, is currently orbiting theโฃ Sun alongside earth in a complex orbitalโ dance, qualifying it as โa “quasi-moon.” The discovery, initially made โby โthe Pan-STARRS observatory in Hawaii on August 29th, was only recently confirmed through analysis of decadesโฃ of archivedโข astronomical data. โ
This celestial companion, โขestimated to beโ around 19 meters in diameter, has remained largely unnoticed dueโ to its small size โคand faintness.โ Its orbit isn’t stable like the Moon’s, but rather a looping path that brings it โclose to Earth before continuing its yearly circulation aroundโฃ the sun. โTheโฃ existence of 2025 PN7 challenges previous assumptions about the minimum โฃsize for quasi-moons and โhighlights the potential for numerous, โyet-to-be-discoveredโ objects sharing our planet’s orbital space.
“Quasimoons have โescaped attention โขfor soโค long because they are smallโ and faint,” explained researcher Carlosโค de laโ Fuente Marcosโฃ in a recent article published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. He added, “The existence of 2025 โPN7 proves thatโข the lower limit for the size of the quasi-moon may not exist.”
2025 โคPN7 joins โคa small group of known quasi-moons orbiting near Earth, including Kamoสปoalewa, believed to be a fragmentโข of the Moon itself. Astronomers are continuing to study โฃ2025โข PN7 to refine its sizeโข and orbital characteristics,โ offering a unique possibility to learn more about the โขdynamics of the โinner solar โsystem and the potential for other hidden companions.