At the end of September, asteroid 2024 PT5 will approach Earth and temporarily become its second satellite for 56 days.
Oku.Az reports that this was reported from the Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory named after N. Tusi.
It was reported that the asteroid “2024 PT5” was discovered on August 7 by astronomers from the Complutense University of Madrid. The asteroid, about 10 meters long, will fall under the Earth’s gravity from September 29 to November 25 and will become its mini-satellite. But according to calculations, the asteroid will not enter full orbit and will soon return to the Sun’s gravity to continue its journey. Unfortunately, the asteroid is very small and dark. Since 2024 PT5 has a magnitude of 27.6, it will not be visible to the naked eye, even with amateur telescopes.
“However, this mini-satellite has significant scientific significance. This event is an important example for better understanding asteroids approaching Earth, analyzing their trajectory and studying how they behave when they fall into Earth’s gravity. This data is also important for estimating the probability of other asteroids colliding with Earth in the future. This will play an important role, because sometimes asteroids can hit Earth, but their size is not always so small,” the report says.
