Mini-moon to drift away from the Earth by April 2020. Discovered last month, the 2020 CD3, will soon, no longer be the planet’s second moon. By Tanvi Jain
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The 2020 CD3 – mini moon discovered last month, also called the Earth’s second moon, will soon wander away by April. Believed to be hanging in the orbit around the Earth, the reason behind this drifting away, is reportedly the fact that it’s actually in the orbit around the Sun and not the Earth. It just coincidentally happens to share orbit with the planet.
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For ages, the mini-moon, which is not really a moon at all, is a piece of asteroid, left from the formation of the solar system. And very rarely, when it comes closer to the Earth, that’s when it is captured. Later, after making slow circles around the planet for a few years, the chaotic motions send it back to isolation. This asteroid when discovered, was reportedly estimated to be somewhere between 6.2 feet and 11.4 feet in diameter.
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There is a general paranoia about rocks from space crashing into the Earth and causing destruction, because firstly, they share the Earth’s orbit, secondly, at times they come really close to the planet, and lastly, they are the hardest to spot. The existence of mini-moon for years, which went unnoticed even by the astronomers, is an example good enough to support this.
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Back in 2016 as well, NASA had reported asteroid 2016 HO3 being caught in the Earth’s gravity. Asteroid 2006 RH120 was the first known asteroid to the Earth that was reportedly discovered in September 2006.
According to the experts, such temporarily captured objects are often pulled close by the gravity of the Earth, when the planet intersects close enough to asteroids in orbit to the sun. However, they don’t have any impact on the planet.
Related: Planet Earth Might Have A Second Moon We Didn’t Know About!
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