A question that has baffled not just scientists but many people for decades, whether we are alone in the universal, While we are still waiting for the answer or the result, scientists have captured a tiny object orbiting the earth.
According to CNN report, an asteroid known as 2020 CD3 has been orbiting around our planet for about three years now, acts as a temporary mini-moon whirling around our planet.
Discovered recently by Kacper Wierzchos and Theodore Pruyne, research specialists for the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona.
However, Mini-moon is expected to drop out of orbit around the Earth in April and return to a heliocentric orbit, which is an orbit around the sun.
Have a look at their tweet about the discovery they made on the night of February 15:
BIG NEWS (thread 1/3). Earth has a new temporarily captured object/Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. Here are the discovery images. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl
— Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
The Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union (MPC) also announced the discovery. The asteroid, measuring about 6.2 feet and 11.4 feet in diameter, is almost the size of a small car.
(2/3) The object has just been announced by the MPC and its orbit shows that it entered Earth's orbit some three years ago. Here is a diagram of the orbit created with the orbit simulator written by Tony Dunn: pic.twitter.com/2wsJGtexiO
— Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
This is a huge deal as the object is only the second asteroid known to orbit Earth after 2006 RH120. “Over the next few weeks, more observations are likely to come in,” Pruyne was quoted saying by CNN. “This will better help us understand the origin of the object, as well as a more accurate timeline of when the object came into orbit.”
