I like this rock

 

How does this happen?

'Earth has previously captured other temporary mini-moons, such as Asteroid 2020 CD3. Although that asteroid was first spotted whirling around Earth in February 2020 and departed a couple of months later, research showed it had orbited our planet for a few years before being detected.'

-from a Friday Sept 20th CNN article, A space rock is about to become Earth's new 'mini-moon'.

Undetected for a few years?  Seems like with all these telescopes and Earth citizen eyes, we'd notice.  It's kinda nice we aren't detecting so hard, but also, I have a need for UFO info. So keep a lookout!

The article says we will have a flyby asteroid that will orbit the earth from September 29th to November 25th.  They can be precise about that, and future flybys:

'But the space rock is expected to make a close flyby of Earth from 1.1 million miles (1.7 million kilometers) away on January 9, 2025, before “leaving the neighborhood of Earth shortly afterwards, until its next return in 2055,” according to the study.

And when Asteroid 2024 PT5 comes back around again, astronomers expect it to become Earth’s mini-moon for a few days in November 2055 and again for a few weeks in early 2084.'

Math and observation are two different things. :0)

minimoons

Oh my god this is the best thing ever!!!

Go here and be amazed!

Are you kidding me?!!!  I'm so jealous!!