Moonsare common in our solar system of rules . In simple terms , a moonis a instinctive planet caught in a planet ’s orbit . base on that definition , a second lunation — a mini - moon — has been circlingEarthfor a few year undetected by scientist , The Atlanticreports .
TheMinor Planet Center — an international organization that analyze asteroids , comet , and small natural satellites orbit planets — denote late that Earth has a new innate satellite of its own . The target , nickname 2020 CD3 , is approximately the size of a small automobile , and it ’s the only one of our planet ’s orbiter , other than theactual Moon , that was n’t put into orbit by humans .
uranologist conclude that 2020 CD3 has been there for at least a year and up to three , evading notice until February 15 , 2020 . It ’s not totally clear what the object it is , but most probable it was an asteroid that was pulled off path by Earth ’s gravitational attraction while flying close to the satellite . There ’s a smaller chance it ’s a objet d’art of the Sun Myung Moon that take flight into space following an shock .
The Moon ’s status as Earth ’s no.1 satellite is n’t under threat . Mini - moon such as this one may appear middling often , but because they ’re too small to ponder the Sun or be seen with the defenseless heart , most are n’t documented before go orbit . The gravitational tug - of - war between the Moon , the Earth , and the Sun makes for unstable trajectories for such low objects , which finally causes them to slip back into out blank space . 2020 CD3 , for instance , takes a wild , looping path around Earth that live about four months . The miniskirt - lunar month may break aside from our major planet as early asApril 2020 .
2020 CD3 is n’t the only remarkable physical object in orbit . Here arefive human - made thingsyou can see from space .
[ h / tThe Atlantic ]
