Earths second mini moon: What to know [Video]

“Earth is set to temporarily obtain another moon on September 29th. The asteroid known as a ‘mini-moon’ is expected to make a single orbit journey around Earth, ending on November 25th,” a post with 19 million views says.

Google Trends shows a spike in people searching whether there’s a second moon and if it can be seen from Earth. 

THE SOURCES

QUESTION #1

Is Earth getting a second moon?

THE ANSWER

Yes, Earth is getting a second moon for a short period of time.

WHAT WE FOUND

“Earth can regularly capture asteroids from the Near-Earth object (NEO) population and pull them into orbit,” a 2024 report published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). This typically occurs when the asteroid or object’s geocentric energy turns negative if it flies closely towards Earth.

NASA …