Astronomers reported that at the end of September, the Asteroid 2024 PT5 will approach the Earth, which will become a mini-satellite of our planet for a while. Detected on August 7, 2024, with the help of a collision notification system, this space object will approach the planet on September 29 and will remain in its gravitational field until November 25.
The asteroid has a diameter of about 10 meters and is classified by scientists as safe. Although the object will be too dim to observe the naked eye, it will accompany the earth within 56 days. Scientists say that under the influence of earth gravity 2024 pt5 will make an incomplete revolution around the planet, but its trajectory will not cross with the orbit of the Earth.
After the asteroid leaves the outskirts of the Earth on January 9, 2025, it will return to outer space, but again approaches our planet in 2055.
This phenomenon is not rare. Scientists explain that small cosmic bodies, like 2024 PT5, can shortly become mini-satellites of the Earth, attracted by its gravitational field. Such asteroids rotate around the planet for a certain period, and then continue their movement in space, practically without changing their trajectory. One of these asteroids, 2022 NX1, became the "mini-month" of the Earth in 1981 and 2022.
