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This is how the hidden face of the Moon looks 1:08
(CNN) - It's not the Moon, but you can call it a moon. The Earth has captured a small object and placed it in orbit.
The asteroid, known as 2020 CD3, is only the second asteroid known to orbit the Earth. And although it will not last, this asteroid acts as a temporary mini-moon revolving around our planet.
The discovery was made by Kacper Wierzchos and Theodore Pruyne, specialist researchers at Catalina Sky Survey. It is a NASA-funded project at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona in Tuscon, Arizona.
The survey is supported by the Near Earth Object Observation Program, which reports to the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office. Catalina's specialists help NASA discover and track near-Earth objects that could potentially be dangerous for the planet.
In this case, they found a natural satellite that entered Earth's orbit three years ago.
BIG NEWS (thread 1/3). Earth has a new temporarily captured object / Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. Here are the discovery images. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl
- Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
On Tuesday, the Center for Minor Planets of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (MPC) announced the object. The MPC is "the only global location for receiving and distributing positional measurements of minor planets, comets and irregular natural outer satellites of the major planets."
"Orbit integrations indicate that this object is temporarily attached to Earth," according to the announcement on its site. “No link was found with a known artificial object. It is strongly recommended to make more observations and dynamic studies. ”
The asteroid probably measures between 1.88 meters and 3.4 meters, the researchers said on Twitter.
(3/3) The object has a diameter between 1.9 - 3.5 m assuming a C-type asteroid albedo. But it's a big deal as out of ~ 1 million known asteroids, this is just the second asteroid known to orbit Earth (after 2006 RH120, which was also discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey).
- Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
The first known asteroid to orbit Earth, the 2006 asteroid RH120, was discovered using the Catalina Sky Survey in September 2006. Astronomers know it as TCO or Temporarily Captured Object.
“However, the history of the RH120 of 2006 is not without controversy, since its orbit seems similar to that of some used rocket propellants of the Apollo era and, therefore, some scientists believe that it may be an object artificial, ”according to Catalina’s website.
With the increase of the capacities of the observations the surveys, it is probable that more objects captured temporarily “in the next years will be discovered, which will allow a better definition and characterization of this strange class of near-Earth objects”.
Moon