Earth gets a second moon

[heyzeus]

...but only for 57 days.

https://www.space.com/earth-mini-moon-asteroid-2024-pt5

This month, Earth will grab itself a second moon in the form of the tiny asteroid 2024 PT5.

Unlike the moon, Earth's primary companion which has accompanied our planet for around 4 billion years, this "new mini-moon" will stick around for just two months before it heads back to its home in an asteroid belt trailing our planet and orbiting the sun.

A team of scientists well-versed in the study of so-called "mini-moon events " identified the forthcoming gravitational capture event. They spotted the peculiar dynamic properties of 2024 PT5 as they routinely monitored newly discovered objects for potentially interesting behavior

[CardsofSTL]

If it's not made of cheese and you can't look wistfully at it from the branch of a tree, it's not really a moon.

Mike Shannon would know that.

[IMADreamer]

Hey! if the second moon was made of cheese would you eat it? I know I would.

[AdmiralKird]

Meh. That's no moon, its more like a space station.

[mikechamp]

Meh. That's no moon, its more like a space station.

Now I know why there's been a run on tin foil lately.

(ducks)

[Donnie Ebert]

57 Days A Moon shall be the title of my overwrought and pretentious Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

[obucard]

It doesn't have a face, does it?

[JoeMcKim]

I can't wait until Michael Bay makes a movie about this.

[Leroy]

Unlike the moon, Earth's primary companion which has accompanied our planet for around 4 billion years, this "new mini-moon" will stick around for just two months before it heads back to its home in an asteroid belt trailing our planet and orbiting the sun.

Nobody likes a quitter.