MYSTERIES

The miniluna is a piece of moon

For a very short but interesting period, last year the earth had two moons. A small asteroid remained close to our planet on its orbit around the sun, temporarily trapped by the severity of the Earth, becoming a miniluna. Looking at it in greater care, a fairly familiar origin was revealed: the Earth’s miniluna could actually be a bit of our moon that was fired.

Little 2024 PT5 was first seen on August 7, 2024. Atlas detected, asteroid impact alert system. The tiny asteroid is about 10 meters in diameter and its orbit around the sun was almost equal to that of the Earth, which suggested that it had to have originated nearby. In fact, the asteroid could be a bit of rock fired from the moon surface towards space after an important impact, according to a recent study that It was published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“We had a general idea that the asteroid could have come from the moon, but what confirmed it was that it is rich in silicate minerals, which are not those that are seen in asteroids but what were found in samples of lunar rocks.” , declared Teddy Kaeta, astronomer of the Lowell Observatory of Arizona, who headed this study.

The origin of the asteroids

In general, the asteroids originate in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but there is a small population of space rocks that came out of the moon surface after a mass impact. “It is the history of the moon related by scientists in asteroids,” Kerta added. “It is an uncommon situation in which we go out to study an asteroid but then we enter the new territory in terms of what we can ask about 2024 PT5.”

When the asteroid was discovered, the solar light spectrum reflected by the surface of the miniluna was not like that of any other type of asteroid, but it did like that of the rock of our moon. This, added to the way in which the object moves, made scientists come to the conclusion that the space rock left our natural satellite. ”

As its composition was not the same as that of asteroids, scientists wanted It turned out to be an old propeller of a rocket). The difference between an asteroid and space garbage is the way they move in space when the light or photons of the sun exert a small force on the objects that are in space, causing them to move faster or more slowly .

This force of solar radiation has a lower effect on the movement of natural objects, such as asteroids. “The garbage manufactured by humans is usually relatively light and the pressure of sunlight impulses it,” said Oscar Fuentes-Muñoz, of the NASA postdoctoral and co-author of this new work. “That the 2024 PT5 does not move in this way indicates that it is much more dense than the space trash manufactured by humans.”

The scientists also observed that the surface of the miniluna did not present too many blows or rayons, which suggests that the impact that gave rise to their detachment may have occurred a few millennia ago.

The discovery of moon -related asteroids could increase as telescopes become more sensitive to detect smaller space rocks. If lunar asteroids can be traced to a particular lunar crater, scientists could learn more about the craters -forming process on the surface of the moon.

This article has been translated from Gizmoda US by Lucas Handley. Here you can find the original version.

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