Astronomers say Earth might have a new mini-moon - CNET

gettyimages-615291986 — Earth, as seen from the Moon in 1968, could have pulled a new mini-moon into its gravity.
Corbis via Getty Images

We could have a new space neighbor, at least for a while. Astronomers at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey reckon they've spotted an asteroid that's caught in Earth's gravity.

"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," Kacper Wierzchos tweeted Tuesday.

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, 2020

Wierzchos calculated that the asteroid is between 1.9 and 3.5 meters in diameter. The Minor Planet Center acknowledged the near-Earth object, and it apparently entered Earth's orbit around three years ago. The Catalina Sky Survey is based at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson.

It's the second asteroid that's known to have entered Earth's orbit. The previous one, 2006 RH120, was also discovered by the CSS and orbited Earth for 18 months over 2006 and 2007, as noted by science writer Corey S. Powell.

The CSS didn't respond to a request for comment.

First published Feb. 26, 4:35 a.m. PT.
Updates 5:14 a.m. PT: Adds more detail, 7:08 a.m. PT: Corrects diameter from miles to meters.

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2020-02-26 12:35:00Z
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