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A 'mini-moon' will be visible from Earth for the next two months

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Earth has a new visitor in space. It's an asteroid named 2024 PT5.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Catchy. As the asteroid was whizzing by on its path around the sun, the Earth's gravity disrupted it, and the space rock and the Earth are now in a fleeting gravitational dance.

SUMMERS: Scientists spotted the space rock last month using a telescope in South Africa. That telescope is part of the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System. And while that name sounds pretty dire, there's no need to worry. This asteroid is not on a collision course with Earth.

SHAPIRO: Writing this month in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, scientists estimate the asteroid is 33 feet long - about the size of a bus. And sorry, backyard astronomers - it'll be too small and dim to see with amateur telescopes.

SUMMERS: And while the space rock has picked up the nickname of a mini moon, tracing a temporary arc around the Earth, there's some disagreement whether it truly lives up to that title because it won't make a full orbit around our planet before departing again in the coming months to continue its journey around the sun. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Jordan-Marie Smith
Jordan-Marie Smith is a producer with NPR's All Things Considered.
Christopher Intagliata is an editor at All Things Considered, where he writes news and edits interviews with politicians, musicians, restaurant owners, scientists and many of the other voices heard on the air.