© Catalina Sky Survey
New Mini-Moon seen orbiting around Earth on February 15, 2020.
New Mini-Moon seen orbiting around Earth on February 15, 2020.
Comment: Perhaps not temporarily! We may be watching history in the making.
It's named 2020 CD3, a small chunk of likely carbonaceous rock between 1.9 and 3.5 metres (6.2 and 11.5 feet) in diameter. And here's the kicker - the rock's trajectory indicates it's been in orbit for around three years already.
The near-Earth neighbourhood is a relatively busy place, with boatloads of asteroids zipping past. The precise numbers, however, are unclear; estimates put the number at millions, but as of February 25, the number discovered was only 22,211.
Comment: Indeed, and it's an increasingly busy place.
That's because asteroids are really small, we don't know where they are (so we don't know where to look), and they typically don't give off a lot of light, even when they're reflecting sunlight.
Comment: Some of them are small, but 'small' is highly relative in outer space.
Comment: "Yay, let's PLAY with it!"
Er, how about we wake up and smell the pooh hitting the fan?
We've long suspected that some (or most) of the 'slow-moving meteors' burning up in the atmosphere of late are in fact asteroids that had been previously captured by Earth's gravity.
The same phenomenon is apparently occurring with respect to other planets in our solar system, whose numbers of 'moons' grow by the year. Those new 'moons' are typically accounted for by 'better observation technology', but clearly the actual numbers of 'moons' are growing...
UPDATE February 28: RT reports that astronomers at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii have released pictures of 2020 CD3. The image is actually a combination of three separate images using three different filters to capture the new moon. Lead astronomer Grigori Fedorets says he expects to find 'a population of these objects once the Rubin Observatory is operational'..and they may indeed!