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Earth has caught a 'second moon'


Earth should have captured a temporary "second moon" on Sunday (Sept. 29).

"According to the latest data available from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Horizons system, the temporary capture will start at 15:54 EDT (1954 UTC) and will end at 11:43 EDT (1543 UTC) on November 25," mini-moon event expert and Universidad Complutense de Madrid professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos told Space.com on Wednesday (Sept. 25). Scientists have officially documented two prior "short captures," a type of asteroid-grabbing event lasting about a week and estimated to occur several times per decade. Whereas the moon dominates the night sky over Earth for at least half the month, 2024 PT5 won't be observable to the average skywatcher.

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