No, this isn’t clickbait, our lovely planet Earth has gained another moon. For the next two months, Earth will have a tiny secondary moon trapped in its gravitational pull. 

Technically, the “moon” is a temporarily captured asteroid named PT5 that is only about the size of a bus, or 11 meters in diameter. The asteroid will be with us for about 57 days and was drawn into our atmosphere on September 29. 

PT5 was found on August 9th by NASA, and was a part of the Arjuna asteroid belt where scientists are predicting it will return to after its world tour. PT5 is what astronomers call a Near Earth Object or a NEO. A NEO is an asteroid or comet that is pushed into Earth’s gravitational pull. 

These NEOs and mini-moons come in many different forms. The one that our mini-moon falls under is temporarily captured flybys, which means they remain in the Earth’s orbit for a very short period of time before floating away. 

PT5 isn’t the first mini moon Earth has gained, however, In fact, Earth has been known to capture these NEOs for many years. In 2020, scientists found a “moon” floating around the atmosphere for years called 2020 CD3.

Since PT5 is so small, it can’t be found on any commercial telescope or binoculars. Only observatories will have enough magnification to spot it.