Near-Earth Asteroid Likely Came from Moon

Earth’s Mini-Moon Mystery Solved: It’s a Chunk of the Moon
For a brief, but exciting, time last year, Earth had two moons. A small asteroid lingered close to our planet in its orbit around the Sun, temporarily caught by Earth’s gravity to become a far away mini-moon. A closer look at the space rock reveals a rather familiar origin: Earth’s mini-moon might actually be a broken-off piece of our regular Moon.
Earth's recent asteroid visitor might've been a piece of the moon
2024 PT5 is the second near-Earth asteroid scientists suspect was ejected from the moon's surface, the first being 469219 Kamo'oalewa, which a different team of scientists have traced to an old impact crater on the far side of the moon.
NASA: Near-Earth Asteroid Likely Came from the Moon
The asteroid is about 33 feet (10 meters) across and poses no danger to Earth. It joins another known lunar asteroid discovered in 2016 known as 469219 Kamo’oalewa. Scientists hope that as telescopes become more powerful, we will be able to detect more bits of the Moon that have been blasted free in ancient impacts.
Study finds that Earth's small asteroid visitor is likely a chunk of moon rock
A near-Earth object was likely ejected into space after an impact thousands of years ago. Now it could contribute new insights to asteroid and lunar science.
Earth’s Mini-Moon Was Probably a Piece of Its Real Moon
Scientists think a small rock discovered near Earth last August was hurled into space by an ancient impact on the lunar surface.
Astronaut’s stunning Earth photo looks like ‘arteries in your retina’
NASA astronaut Don Pettit has captured another remarkable shot, this one showing the Betsiboka River estuary in ...
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Earth Sings with Mysterious Chorus Waves—And Deep Space Does, Too
Peculiar bursts of energy called chorus waves have been detected in deep space far from our planet, suggesting they could ...
Where in the world are Earth’s oldest dinosaurs?
To account for the numerous gaps in the fossil record, they treated the parts of the world where fossils have not been ...
The Year 2025: How Emerging Tech Is Changing The Earth For Good
Artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to reign supreme in predictions of what the new year may hold—from autonomous AI ...
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Towering structures in Earth’s depths may be billions of years old
New measurements suggest mysterious continent-sized masses in our planet’s lower mantle may be extremely stable features ...
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Earth's elusive 'ignorosphere' could shed new light on auroras
Although they don't impact the surface directly, historical evidence and simulations suggest airbursts can pack a punch.
A moon-bound spacecraft snaps footage of Earth eclipsing the sun
The Blue Ghost lunar lander, built by the Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace for NASA, launched to space on Jan. 15, and ...
Mysterious 'Supercontinents' Inside Earth Challenge Mantle Theory
These ancient buried "super-continents"—known to scientists as large low-seismic-velocity provinces (LLSVPs)—were found ...