Earth bids farewell to its temporary 'mini moon' that is possibly a chunk of our actual moon 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — 

Planet Earth is parting institution with an asteroid that's been tagging on arsenic a "mini moon" for the past 2 months.

The harmless abstraction stone volition peel distant connected Monday, flooded by the stronger tug of the sun's gravity. But it volition zip person for a speedy sojourn successful January.

NASA volition usage a radar antenna to observe the 10-meter (33-foot) asteroid then. That should deepen scientists' knowing of the entity known arsenic 2024 PT5, rather perchance a boulder that was blasted disconnected the satellite by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.

While not technically a satellite — NASA stresses it was ne'er captured by Earth's gravity and afloat successful orbit — it's "an absorbing object" worthy of study.

The astrophysicist brothers who identified the asteroid's "mini satellite behavior," Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid, person collaborated with telescopes successful the Canary Islands for hundreds of observations truthful far.

Currently much than 3.5 cardinal kilometers (2 cardinal miles) away, the entity is excessively tiny and faint to spot without a almighty telescope. It volition walk arsenic adjacent arsenic 1.8 cardinal kilometers (1.1 cardinal miles) of Earth successful January, maintaining a harmless region earlier it zooms farther into the star strategy portion orbiting the sun, not to instrumentality until 2055. That's astir 5 times farther than the moon.

First spotted successful August, the asteroid began its semi jog astir Earth successful precocious September, aft coming nether the grips of Earth's gravity and pursuing a horseshoe-shaped path. By the clip it returns adjacent year, it volition beryllium moving excessively accelerated — much than treble its velocity from September — to bent around, said Raul de la Fuente Marcos.

NASA volition way the asteroid for much than a week successful January utilizing the Goldstone star strategy radar antenna successful California's Mojave Desert, portion of the Deep Space Network.

Current information suggest that during its 2055 visit, the sun-circling asteroid volition erstwhile again marque a impermanent and partial thigh astir Earth.