Earth will have a temporary ‘mini moon’ for two months

Question

Will Earth have a temporary mini-moon for two months?

Answer 1

This claim is that Earth will have a temporary mini-moon for about two months. According to APnews.com, "When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe — but only for about two months." After reading other articles, such as one from Earthsky.org, I can say that this is true and that Earth will have a "mini-moon" until around November 25.

Answer 2

The claim that Earth will have a temporary mini-moon for two-months is true, but also over exaggerated. The article where the claim is found says that the mini-moon will be a 33 foot long asteroid trapped in Earth’s orbit. Yes, this can be described as a moon, however, the title of the article is made to attract viewers. The fact is misleading and exaggerated.

Answer 3

The main claim of this statement is about if earth will have a temporary mini-moon for two months. 

The site AP News, claims that "The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 33 feet (10 meters). When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe — but only for about two months." 

The site AP News site stated, "These short-lived mini moons are likely more common than we realize, said Richard Binzel, an astronomer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The last known one was detected in 2020." This site is a news page but news pages can sometimes be misleading, but this site states information and has evidence from astronomers/ scientists. I wanted to check if this was not a false statement, I found from the website Boston.com called, Earth will have a temporary 'mini moon' for two months, it stated a similar fact as the source AP News it said, "This one won’t be visible to the naked eye or through amateur telescopes, but it “can be observed with relatively large, research-grade telescopes,” Carlos de la Fuente Marcos said in an email." Both of these articles have the exact same information and data. I think this claim is true or false. I saw loads of information from different sites but they are all very similar with the same information. It makes me think they copied each others articles but put it in there own text but others cited the source where they found it. 

https://www.boston.com/news/environment/2024/09/27/earth-will-have-a-temporary-mini-moon-for-two-months/

https://apnews.com/article/mini-moon-earth-asteroid-astronomy-d68656845bd2762095bb39ce9d619e6b 

Answer 4

I chose this claim because the idea of Earth gaining a temporary "mini moon" is fascinating and could easily be misunderstood, especially with so many misconceptions about space. This article is mostly accurate in explaining that a small asteroid, 2024 PT5, will orbit Earth for about two months. However, calling it a "mini moon" is somewhat misleading, as it exaggerates the significance of this common event; astronomers explain that Earth temporarily captures such small asteroids fairly often, though we rarely notice them due to their small size.

While the article correctly states that this asteroid won’t be visible to the naked eye, it could lead readers to believe this is a rare or special event, when in fact, improved technology is just making these sightings more common.