New ‘quasi-moon’ discovered in Earth orbit may have been hiding there for decades
A new article describes another possible “quasi-moon” of the earth, and the intertwined asteroid may have followed our planet for decades, not detected.
Quasi-moons, according to the planetary company, are “as a gravitational sleight of hand”. These are asteroids who – from our point of view on earth – seem in orbit around our planet as our permanent moon do. However, they orbit the sun, temporarily moving into the solar system alongside our planet.
If the status of the newly detected asteroid, called 2025 PN7, is confirmed, it would not be the only object that would appear apparently as a mune; There is Seven others known almost In earth-shaped orbits, and they are “full of surprises,” said the co-author of the study Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of the complutense university of Madrid.
Of these quasi-moons, 2025 PN7 is the “quasi-satellite of the smallest and least stable land,” said live science in an email.
The newly discovered asteroid is only 62 feet (19 meters) wide – slightly smaller than the meteor which Exploded on Chelyabinsk, Russiain 2013. The asteroid is officially classified as having a brightness of magnitude 26, which means that it is only visible through good telescopes. (The lower the amplitude, the luminous the object. For comparison, most stars with bare eyes are magnitude 6 or lower, and the brilliant star sirius is roughly magnitude -1.5.)
The quasi-moon potential conclusion was published on September 2 in the journal Research notes from American Astronomical Society (AAS). The newspaper, which is not evaluated by peers, aims to allow the authors of Share “quickly” elements Interesting in the astronomical community, with articles “moderated by a publisher of relevance and format before publication” instead of the peer exam. This approach allowed the authors of the Carlos study of Fuente Marcos and Raúl of Fuente Marcos, also from the compluten university of Madrid, to quickly publish their results.
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A Official circular from August 29 to 2025 PN7 From the international astronomical union shows data on the object dating only on July 30, in the observations of the Pan-Starrs1 telescope1 of the Haleakalā Observatory in Maui, Hawaii.
The almost moon designation was proposed for the first time for 2025 PN7 by the French journalist and amateur astronomer Adrien Coffinet, who Published on August 30 on the broadcast list of the minor planet On how his calculations seemed to show that it was.
“2025 PN7 seems to be a quasi-satellite of the Earth for the next 60 years,” wrote Coffinet. Another in the group said that it seems, orbit of the object, for having already stolen near the United States for about seven decades.
So why have the astronomers not noticed 2025 PN7 before now? “It is small, light, and its windows of visibility of the earth are rather unfavorable, it is therefore not surprising that it has gone unnoticed for so long,” said Fuente Marcos.
More quasi-moons can be hidden. THE VERA C. Rubin ObservatoryWho has recently become operational and can seek objects like this, “can discover much more like 2025 PN7”, added Fuente Marcos.
