Question

Earth will get a second moon for two months

Comments

Your comment does a great job of articulating what is missing from the article and how it can be misleading without full context. Not knowing this information can lead to people spreading misinformation or not fully factual information. Nice job.

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This wasn't necessarily untrue, but what was pulled in by Earth's gravity was not actually a 'moon'. It was an asteroid named 2024 PT5, which was referred to as a 'mini-moon' at most. According to KTLA, the asteroid was only about the size of a bus, which is nowhere near the size of our moon. NASA states that the moon is a quarter of the Earth's size, and we all know that is much bigger than a bus. While it is true that it was briefly within the Earth's orbit, it is misleading to not state the period of time in the title of your claim, as it gives off the impression that this 'mini-moon' is a permanent addition to our orbit. It was in orbit from September 29th to November 25th--about two months as was mentioned in your caption. The only thing this claim lacks is clarity in details that leads it to be misinformation. The site named Astronomy states that celestial objects must stay within a certain distance from another object in order to continue being in its orbit, and The Register Guard states that 2024 PT5's orbit will lead it (or has led it at this time) outside of that area, which means it cannot stay within Earth's orbit permanently.

https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/earths-2nd-moon-is-here-what-you-need-to-know/
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/moon/five-things-to-know-about-the-moon/
https://www.astronomy.com/observing/why-does-earth-have-only-one-moon/
https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/local/2024/09/26/mini-moon-2024-pt5-asteroid-oregon/75378304007/

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The headline is not completely false, only slightly misleading. When referring to a second mini-moon they are talking about an asteroid that will be entering the earth's orbit for a while. The actual substance of the article is all true, they go on to say that the reason that it can be called a "mini-moon" instead of just an asteroid is because it will make at least one full rotation around the earth. Additionally, the asteroid heading for the orbit is larger than some of our past "mini-moons" further granting it "mini-moon" status. Much of the research comes from a research article published in Research Notes of the AAS. The information matches up between the two sources and is reliable.

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"Earth will get a second moon for two months" is true. Between September 29 and November 25, 2024, Earth briefly ensnared 2024 PT5, a tiny asteroid that is frequently referred to as a "mini-moon." This roughly 10-meter-diameter asteroid was found on August 7, 2024, by the South African ATLAS system. It entered Earth's orbit and stayed there for almost two months before reentering its solar orbit. While uncommon, these brief captures of near-Earth objects are not unheard of. 2024 PT5 was too small to be seen with the unaided eye, necessitating the use of professional-grade telescopes for observation.

I watched this video gaining more info on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aah1Ip9h2q8

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this feels like a very big claim to make with such little information.

Answer 1

This is misleading. Earth is not getting a new moon. According to BBC News, scientists have found a minuscule temporary "mini-moon" that has been caught in Earth's gravitational pull for now. These are not moons, instead they are small space rocks and are not permanent.

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3dvxgrmk95o

Answer 2

This claim isn't completely false, but it is misleading. According to Space.com, a website dedicated to publishing current news related to astronomy, has stated that earth temporarily captured an astroid. The original claim is misleading because it doesn't disclose that this "second moon" is just a captured astroid. It also fails to disclose that this is temporary, and that we will only had a "second moon" for a short period of time.

source:

https://www.space.com/earth-will-capture-second-moon-sept-2024

Answer 3

After a thorough investigation, I am able to determine now that this topic is misleading and exaggerated because there won't exactly be a real moon appearing soon, but it will however be an asteroid that will give the sliggt appearence of a second moon, and it has been reported on by a few other websites such as Space.com. The author is also a reliable source for CBS news, and she reported on the asteroid instead it being an actual second moon which gives her the credibility.

Answer 4

The information presented in this CBS News article does align with reports from other good, reputable sources like space.com and the Associated Press, which confirms the temporary capture of asteroid 2024 PT5 from Earth's gravity. The term "mini-moon" is used to describe this small object that is temporarily captured in Earth's gravity but is not officially a moon of the Earth. The claim definitely draws in the reader but is not exactly true.

Answer 5

Although the concept of a "mini-moon" is not a new one, the term itself is misleading. The article from CBS News says the identified object was actually an asteroid that temporarily orbited the Earth from September 29 to November 25th. The word "moon," according to National Geographic, is "an object that orbits a planet or something else that is not a star." This technically applies to the "mini-moon" but because it escapes Earth's orbit and is not caught again in another 30 years, this serves as a contradiction of sorts. Although, indeed, the small asteroid is temporarily caught in Earth's gravity, it absolutely does not count as a second moon.

Sources:

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/moon/

Answer 6

I am going to factcheck this claim using the SIFT method.

This claim was posted by an anonymous user claiming that Earth will get a second, “mini”, moon citing an article by CBS News which is a long standing news company with a slightly left lean. Upon reading the article they state that Earth will be getting a second “moon” starting on September 29th 2024 and ending November 25th 2024. The asteroid, dubbed 2024 PT5 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, an asteroid monitoring system funded by NASA who initially spotted the asteroid, will orbit the earth in a horseshoe shape for two months, then get pulled back into space. To check the claim, I found multiple articles published by space.com, National Geographic, and phys.org which restated the same things CBS reported on. While this anonymous claim was relatively correct, there is a slight caveat. This moon is only here for 2 months, so it isn’t a permanent change to anything which isn’t how the original poster made it sound. National Geographic interviewed Thomas Statler, the lead scientist for solar system small bodies at NASA who said that; “To become a second moon, the asteroid would have to be gravitationally bound to our existing Earth-Moon system and make multiple circuits around it. These conditions currently don’t apply to the asteroid, which was recently dubbed 2024 PT5.” So while this claim isn’t exactly incorrect, it is slightly misleading and overexaggerated. Nevertheless, this is a super cool and unique thing for us to be experiencing!

Answer 7

Not correct. This claim is misleading. Earth will temporarily capture a small asteroid, 2024 BX1, but it is not a true second moon. NASA and the Minor Planet Center confirm that such mini-moons are small  1-3 meters and stay in orbit briefly before leaving. Similar events have happened before, like 2020 CD3. While technically true, the claim exaggerates the significance by implying a permanent second moon, which is false.

Sources: NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/)

The Minor Planet Center (https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/)