Earth may have another moon ... sort of
Randy Mann.
JAKE PARRISH/Press
Earth is the only planet in our solar system with a single moon, making it a rare phenomenon for a planet of its kind. While many other objects in the solar system have single moons, including some dwarf planets and asteroids, the large gas and ice giants like Jupiter and Saturn have dozens of moons, and inner planets like Venus and Mercury have none. The formation of Earth's Moon theorized through a giant impact is considered a rare event.
However, our planet’s gravity has captured asteroids or comets that orbit Earth for a short time before returning to their usual orbit around the sun. These are referred to as “mini-moons,” or quasi-moons. Recently, astronomers spotted one of these small space rocks orbiting our planet. This object is so small that it went unseen by telescopes for approximately 60 years. According to a paper in the journal called “Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, the newly discovered object is called 2025 PN7 and is around 238,000 miles from Earth on average. Scientists estimate that this small object is likely to hang around Earth for another 60 years before the sun’s gravity pulls it back.
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