Photo credit: Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), University of Arizona
University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) astronomers discovered a small bright object on Feb. 15, 2020, and they called it a “mini moon.” This small asteroid captured by Earth is about 6 – 12 feet across and located approximately 186,000 miles from Earth. Due to its size, they expect it to be tossed out of Earth’s gravity field sometime in April, so they have limited time to observe 2020 CD3 through a network of high-powered telescopes. Read more for a video and additional information.
Small objects like 2020 CD3 are frequently pulled in near the Earth, and it happens when the planet meets sufficiently close to space rocks in the circle to the sun. On the rare chance that the item is close enough to Earth, its gravity will pull on the articles, changing the item’s circle.
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The majority of moons in the Solar System are captured objects. Near Earth-Objects (NEO) are routinely catalogued and their orbits are observed to determine their probability of colliding with the Earth,” said Wayne Schlingman, an astronomer at The Ohio State University and OSU planetarium director.
