How you could see Earth's new 'mini moon' next week as asteroid size of London bus to begin orbit

Adam Toms

21 September 2024 at 7:11 am·2-min read

Concept art of a near-Earth asteroid — -Credit: (Image: Getty)

Earth is set to get a new 'mini-moon' for two months. Experts say an asteroid, roughly the length of a London bus, will be captured by our planet's gravitational pull and orbit for around two months.

It will orbit the Earth between Sunday, September 29 and Monday, November 25, and comes from an asteroid belt revolving around the Sun. The object was discovered in August by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (Atlas).

The NASA-funded programme says the asteroid measures about 10 meters in length, a London bus being between 9 and 11 meters in length. This is very small compared with the actual moon, which has a diameter of about 3,474 kilometres.

Can you see the asteroid from Earth?

This means it will be very hard to see, even with a clear sky. Astrophysics Professor Adam Frank from the University of Rochester told ABC that people will not be able to see the mini-moon with the naked eye because it is so small.

"You're gonna need a telescope," he said. "Even then it may be pretty difficult, given its distance."

Astronomer with telescope with the milky way in the sky — An expert has said the asteroid will be 'too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars' -Credit:Getty

Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, a professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the lead author of the research, told Space.com: “The object that is going to pay us a visit belongs to the Arjuna asteroid belt, a secondary asteroid belt made of space rocks that follow orbits very similar to that of Earth."

He added that the asteroid will be 'too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars'. “However," the expert added, "the object is well within the brightness range of typical telescopes used by professional astronomers.”

The Guardian reports that scientists believe the 'mini-moon' will return to Earth’s orbit again in 2055. And this is not the first mini-moon the Earth has had, with researchers adding in their paper that two asteroids orbited the planet in 1981 and in 2022.

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Can you see the asteroid from Earth?

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