A mini-moon has been orbiting our earth for three years. Now he has been discovered. An astronomer speaks of "big news".
- A mini moon has recently been discovered in Earth's orbit
- Apparently this had been here for three years
- The asteroid will leave us soon
Update of February 28, 2020: Astronomer Kacper Wirzchos described the Mini-Moon 2020 CD3 as "great news" , which has been gravitationally bound to the earth for almost three years. The mini moon orbits the earth about every 47 days, but does not get in the way of “our” moon.
As Rainer Kresken , head of the Starkenburg observatory in Heppenheim, told the picture , the mini moon had previously orbited the sun and was then captured by the earth's gravitational pull. “We watch these chunks because they could get dangerously close to us. A large asteroid could cause disaster if struck. CD3 is too small, however, ”continues Rainer Kresken.
The Minor Planet Center , which confirms and publishes new discoveries of small planets and comets, said that "no connection to a known artificial object could be found." According to this, it is said to be an asteroid.
First report from February 27, 2020: Astronomer makes amazing discovery: Earth has a second mini-moon
Arizona - Our earth has had a second, small satellite for about three years. Although it's actually an asteroid , its behavior is rather unusual. This is because these usually either dive into the earth's atmosphere and burn up, or they immediately leave orbit again.
Space: New moon discovered
The mini moon , which bears the name 2020 CD3, has a diameter of only 1.9 - 3.5 meters and is about the size of a small car. This also explains why the asteroid has remained undetected for as long as February 15, 2020, when astronomer Kacper Wirzchos discovered it through a telescope from the American University of Arizona.
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, 2020Space: in orbit for three years
His calculations showed that the little one entered orbit about three years ago. For a long time, however, we will no longer have the opportunity to admire him, because he will probably leave us again in April.
Researchers recently discovered a “pretzel” in space: it is around 700 light years away from us.
Rubric list image: © pixabay / Buddy_Nath