On Sunday, September 29, our planet captured the tiny asteroid named 2024 PT5, turning it into a temporary mini-moon. This intriguing event was first spotted by astronomers at the Complutense University of Madrid. Richard Binzel, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), shared some insights about these celestial visitors.

Mini-moons like 2024 PT5 are small asteroids that Earth’s gravity grabs for a bit, letting them orbit our planet before they move on.

These little guys usually travel around the sun like other asteroids, but when they get close enough to Earth, our gravitational pull can pull them into a temporary orbit. They don’t stick around for long — they might hang out for a few weeks or months before breaking free and continuing their journey around the sun.

Now, you might be wondering if you can spot this mini-moon in the night sky. Unfortunately, it’s too small and dim for most of us. The object is too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars. However, the object is well within the brightness range of typical telescopes used by professional astronomers.