A New ‘Mini-Moon’ Is Orbiting The Earth, But It Won’t Be Here For Long
Earth has acquired a second ‘mini-moon’ this month according to astronomers. Earth gets a new moon most of the months, but this month, it’s two. Astronomers spotted the object circling the planet. Roughly 6-11 feet in diameter, it was observed by researcher Kacper Wierzchos and Teddy Pruyne at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. Wierzchos tweeted saying, ‘Earth has a new temporarily captured object/Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3.’ The ‘mini-moon’ is not in a stable orbit around the planet and is unlikely to be around for very long. The only other asteroid known to orbit Earth was 2006 RH120. It rotated the planet from September 2006 to June 2007.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 28, 2020 11:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).