tell apart to begin with this year , asteroid 2020 CD3 is only the 2nd temporary natural orbiter , or minimoon , ever detected around Earth . It did n’t stick around for very long , but we learned some interesting thing about our temporary familiar and why a mission to intercept similar objects is a good theme .
Asteroid 2020 CD3 wasfirst spottedby uranologist from the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona on February 15 , 2020 . Some preliminary computation were made about its size of it and orbit , but newresearchpublished in the Astronomical Journal is providing the most classic analytic thinking yet of this rare minimoon .
Actually , “ rarefied ” might not be the correct way to say it . More like “ rarely detected . ” Minimoons , or temporary natural satellites , are belike quite common — they’re just notoriously unmanageable to see , owe to their small size of it and fickle nature . But as the Institute of Astronomy ( IfA ) at the University of Hawai’i steer out in astatement , roughly 1 in every 1,000 meteors that sunburn up in Earth ’s aura were once a minimoon . These physical object are n’t vainglorious enough to cause job on Earth ’s surface , and they lean to make a few wacky loops around Earth before resuming their trek around a more persuasive physical object , the Sun .
The minimoon, as imaged on 24 May 2025.Image: Catalina Sky Survey
Minimoons might seem terrene , but 2020 CD3 bewilder a lot of attending ; the new paper boasts 23 author from 14 unlike academic asylum .
First and foremost , the new newspaper ruled out the lingering opening that 2020 CD3 was a returning chunk of distance junk . The object ’s expanse - to - hoi polloi proportion and low luminance hint it ’s a silicate asteroid , and not , for example , a discarded rocket booster unit or wayward Tesla roadster . The same can not be say for aprospective minimoondetected this past September — an physical object powerfully believed to be a Centaur 2nd - level Eruca sativa launch by NASA in 1966 .
https://gizmodo.com/new-mini-moon-might-actually-be-old-space-junk-coming-b-1845179504
Trajectory of 2020 CD3 from January 2019 to May 2020.Image: Javier Roa Vicens
Asteroid 2020 CD3 is slightly diminished than the preliminary estimates . It ’s about 3.9 feet ( 1.2 meter ) wide , so it ’s a bit larger than a dishwasher , and definitely big than a breadbox . The authors say it ’s probably a fragment that broke off from a big asteroid and that it initiate somewhere between Mars and Jupiter .
“ It is incredible that modernistic astronomical scope can detect minimoons the sizing of crowing boulder as far away as the Moon , ” enunciate IfA astronomer and study conscientious objector - writer Robert Jedicke in the University of Hawai’i instruction .
The research worker were also able to qualify the object ’s orbit with more precision . As it turns out , 2020 CD3 has been in minimoon mode for the past 2.5 days — we just did n’t bonk it . The object had been circle Earth since 2018 , but it swoop up in for a near approach , during which fourth dimension it was observe by scientist with the Catalina Sky Survey .
In total , 2020 CD3 spend 2.7 age as a temporarily stick raw orbiter before summarize its journey around the Sun . This lengthy stint caught the study authors by surprisal , as simulations predicted a forgetful continuance for the object . That said , the observations were “ in agreement with model minimoons that have faithful lunar encounter , provide extra support for the orbital models , ” as the researcher write . Also , the object is turn out faster than the charge per unit predicted by theoretic exemplar , which suggests “ our agreement of beat - scale asteroids need revision . ”
Indeed , it seems we still have lots to learn about these thing , which make sense , kick in this is only the 2d known minimoon , the first being 2006 RH120 , notice 14 years ago . Minimoons now present good targets for future missions , as Grigori Fedorets , an astrophysicist at Queen ’s University in Belfast and the lead writer of the Modern newspaper publisher , orient out in the instruction .
“ Minimoons in effect bring the asteroid bash unaired to the Earth so that , in astronomic terms , we can contact out and touch them , and potentially hoard sampling , ” he said .
A mission to a minimoon ( has a nice ring to it ) could provide unique information touch to the early conditions of our Solar System , while also bring home the bacon a nearby political program for the examination of asteroid minelaying technique , according to Fedorets .
We ca n’t be sure if 2020 CD3 will ever return to these portion again , but as the authors of the novel theme point out , we should fully have a bun in the oven to determine minimoons in the coming eld — specially with the upcomingVera C. Rubin lookout .
AstronomyScience
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