Earth has two moons! Yes, you have heard it right. Our planet has captured a mini-moon the size of a car…
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) had discovered that Earth has two moons – this second satellite is tiny and temporary. The new moon, labelled 2020 CD3, measures between 6.2 and 11.5 feet wide in size as compared to our Moon’s huge 3,474 km diameter.
The discovery was made by US astronomers Theodore Pruyne and Kacper Wierzchos on February 15, 2020, using a 60-inch telescope at Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tuscon, Arizona.
The astronomers tracked the space rock for many days and found that it was orbiting Earth..
There are few other instances…The first was an object known as 2006 RH120, which looped around Earth a few times between September 2006 and June 2007 before being ejected. Other claimed moons are more common, but these would be-satellites technically orbit the Sun – they just happen to share the same path as Earth. For instance, 2016 HO3 was discovered a few years ago trailing behind Earth about 13.6 times farther than the Moon.
The second moon, 2020 CD3 was orbiting Earth as a mini-moon for a short time. While it is gravitationally bound to Earth it is subject to gravitational pushes from Earth, the Moon and even the Sun, which has thrown the little rock free of orbit to drift off into space.
Astronomers are keeping a close watch on our tiny orbiting companion… The second moon, which is expected to return in 2040…
-Team ScienceNow
