Earth will now have two moons

Question

There are many articles coming out having to do with, "Earth is going to have two moons," space.com has stated the following: "Unlike the moon, Earth's primary companion which has accompanied our planet for around 4 billion years, this "new mini-moon" will stick around for just two months before it heads back to its home in an asteroid belt trailing our planet and orbiting the sun." It is also said that this "mini moon" will be around fro a couple weeks while some articles claim it to be up to two whole months before this "mini moon" returns back trailing throughout space. Other claims were stated by the same article saying: "Marcos explained that in order to become a mini-moon, an incoming body has to approach Earth at a close range of around 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km) and slowly at about 2,200 mph (3,540 km/h)." and "Under these conditions, the geocentric energy can become negative, and the object becomes temporarily bound to Earth." What else do we know about this asteroid stuck in our atmosphere and do we really have evidence that it will be our "mini moon" for two whole months? 

Answer 1

This seems to be a claim that has been exaggerated and overblown in both influence and precedence. While all of the quotes you cited seem to be accurate and can be corroborated by other articles, there is other key information that makes this less significant than previously expected. In reality this is a 37-foot wide asteroid that has entered the Earth's orbit and will be slingshotted out after about 57 days. It will not make a full orbit around the planet, and this type of slingshotting gravitational pull on asteroids is not unprecedented. Royal Museums Greenwich has tracked several different asteroids which have made similar types of approaches into Earth's gravitational pull. The idea that Earth will suddenly "have two moons" when one is an asteroid invisible to the human eye from Earth's surface may not be wholly inaccurate, but it is extremely misleading.

Comments

What's your source link? Always cite your source within the fact-check and also leave a hyperlink. Thanks!

Answer 2

While overall, the title on the website is used as a quick way to grab attention, when in reality, this "second moon" is simply an asteroid caught in the Earth's orbit for a temporary amount of time according to the full article. The publisher, Space.com, is overall an accurate source despite being exaggerative and attention-seeking in its headlines. The author of the article has written for many scientific blogs in the past, and holds a degree in physics and astronomy. Many other outlets have reported on this claim as true, such as NPR. But overall, the claim is true, despite being sensationalized. According to National Geographic's definition, the asteroid would count as a moon, albeit not partaking in a full orbit.

Answer 3

This claim is misleading. The reason that this claim is misleading is because this second moon is not permanent. CBS News talks about how Earth is going to get a mini moon this year but only for the short time period of two months. Aside from most people's common belief this is not going to be permanent. It is claimed to be in orbit from September 29th to November 25th. This means it is only in orbit for 56.6 days. According to BBC News, this second moon is too small and dark for most people to see, meaning even for the two months that it orbits, it will not look like the moon we have usually. NBC News explains how this second moon is really an asteroid that normally wouldn't enter the gravitational pulls of earth but this time it did. So, although Earth will have a second moon for two months, it is misleading to claim Earth will have a second moon because that makes this mini moon seem permanent when really it isn't.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earth-second-mini-moon-2024/

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

https://www.nbcmiami.com/weather/stories-weather/earth-just-got-a-second-moon-but-not-for-long-heres-why/3433266/

Answer 4

The information provided is accurate as there are many other sites with similar information, on how an asteroid will enter our orbit and stay there for around 2 months. The title is not necessarily misleading, as the author wrote that the Asteroid does not stay in orbit long, and it won't be visible to the vast majority. The article's author, Robert Lea has written for many scientific blogs such as Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek, and ZME Science. He also has a degree in physics and astronomy, so with this information, we can assume he is knowledgeable. The image of the calculation of the asteroid was taken from Nasa, California Institute of Technology, which is an organization owner site. The author wrote his article based on Carlos de la Fuente Marcos’s interview, who is a mathematical sciences researcher and astronomer at the Complutense University of Madrid. He wrote over 80 articles based on astronomy and can be trusted in this area. One of these articles is based on this mini-moon and it also supports the information provided by Robert Lea.
 

Answer 5

The claim, "Earth will now have two moons," is misleading. Although it is true that an asteroid will briefly enter earths orbit, it is not possible to classify this as a second moon. There are multiple reasons for this, including the very fact that the body is temporary. Robert Lea from space.com said, "this "new mini-moon" will stick around for just two months before it heads back to its home in an asteroid belt trailing our planet and orbiting the sun." This proves the title misleading by highlighting the fact that this body is temporary, with the claim implying an indefinite existence of this asteroid. Another reason this claim is inaccurate is that an object must be a certain distance away from earth in order to truly be considered a moon. Corroborating this, Nasa stated, "the asteroid is too distant to be considered a true satellite of our planet." 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nasa-confirms-existence-of-earths-second-moon/

https://www.space.com/earth-mini-moon-asteroid-2024-pt5