The Mini-moon is known by its designation character of C26FED2 and its tiny. It was announced by the Minor Planet Centre as a new temporary satellite orbiting the Earth. The moon was discovered by astronomers Theodore Pruyne and Kacper Wierzchos at Mount Lemmon Observatory early this month.
It is the second mini-moon to be discovered. However, this small moon was seen around 2017, it has been around for 3 years and by April it might not be there anymore. 2020CD is said to be very faint compared to our beautiful permanent moon.
2006 RH120 Discovery
This tiny Earth asteroid was discovered in 2006 by Eric Christensen. It was captured by Earth’s gravity from the solar orbit of a period of almost 1 year. Its movement is said to have been due to the sun’s radiation.
Facts About Our Main Moon In Comparison With The Newly Discovered ‘Mini-moon’
The Moon is a natural satellite that orbits around the earth. This satellite is considered the 5th largest in the system. It was formed billions of years ago presumably not so long after the earth came to existence. However, there are explanations that the moon might be older than it is.
The moon is the 2nd brightest object in the earth sky since it reflects much of its light from the sun. The gravitational aspect it has is the reason for the ocean tides and at times causes the day to appear longer.
From these few amazing things about the moon, we see how important it is in our solar system. However, something that is quite mysterious is that the distance between the Earth and the moon is increasing.
Mini-moon and their Short Life Existence
A minimoon is a space rock that gets caught in Earth’s orbit for years before burning up in the atmosphere. They are small and hardly discoverable if the astronomers are not keen enough while observing the sky. In a research report, Wierzchos, a senior research specialist for the NASA and University of Arizona-funded Catalina Sky Survey, writes about the size of the new object. The object appears to measure between 6.2-11.5 ft in diameter.
According to Tony Dunn, an astrophysicist and San Francisco high school physics teacher, says that this newly discovered moon is soon disappearing from existence. He adds on and says that 2020CD3 has been trapped by the Earth’s gravity for about 1098 earthly days and that by April this year it will be no more.
Significance Of Astronomers, Research Specialists, And Organizations In The Field Of Astronomy
The Minor Planet Centre is an organization that deals in the scrutiny and collection of data concerning asteroids. It also publish valuable information through the Minor Planet Circulars.
Such information creates awareness for people concerning our solar system which is still at discovery.
MPC is useful to observers since it helps them organize follow up observational researches on matters concerning NEO. Theodore Pruyne and Kacper Wierzchos are U.S.A astronomers who need to be respected and cheered upon following their latest discovery of 2020CD3.
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