Earth Has Captured a Minimoon in Its Orbit — At Least Temporarily | The Weather Channel
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Space

An asteroid 6 to 11 feet in diameter has been circling the Earth every 47 days for about three years.

ByRon Brackett
February 27, 2020Updated: February 27, 2020, 12:30 pm ESTPublished: February 27, 2020, 12:30 pm EST
minimoon022720.jpg

Two astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona discovered the asteroid designated 2020 CD3 on February 15.

(Kacper Wierzchos/Twitter)

Earth has a new neighbor, but this minimoon circling the planet may not stick around.

Astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona detected the object — an asteroid roughly 6 to 11 feet in diameter — on Feb. 15.

On Tuesday, the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center announced multiple observations had confirmed the asteroid, designated 2020 CD3, was orbiting Earth.

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The observations "indicate that this object is temporarily bound to the Earth. No evidence of perturbations due to solar radiation pressure is seen, and no link to a known artificial object has been found," the organization said in a circular.

Catalina Sky Survey researchers Kacper Wierzchos and Teddy Pruyne discovered the asteroid.

In a series of tweets, Wierzchos said its orbit showed it had entered Earth's orbit three years ago.

It circles the planet about once every 47 days, according to New Scientist magazine. Its wide, oval orbit loops far outside the path of Earth's primary moon.

Only one other asteroid has been confirmed to orbit Earth. An asteroid called 2006 RH120 orbited the planet for about a year from September 2006 to June 2007, according to phys.org.

Most of the asteroids that get caught in Earth's gravity enter the atmosphere and burn up or they quickly spin out of orbit because of their velocity, Science Alert reported.

2020 CD3 also is unlikely to stick around much longer. It could be flung out of Earth's orbit as soon as April.

“It is heading away from the Earth-moon system as we speak,” Grigori Fedorets, an astrophysicist at Queen’s University Belfast, told New Scientist.

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