On Aug. 7, NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) spotted asteroid 2024 PT5 entering Earth’s gravitational pull. The asteroid is 33 feet long and is expected to loop around Earth from Sept. 29 to Nov. 25 before slingshotting away and heading off into space. An asteroid that fully orbits Earth is officially known as a mini-moon but because this one will only stay about two months, not everyone agrees it deserves the name. Still, studying 2024 PT5 helps scientists gather data on asteroids generally and that could inform future asteroid mining missions or help us humans deflect dangerous objects from hitting our planet.
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