New research suggests that at any time, the earth can temporarily capture half a dozen fragments of the moon, known as Minuoons, before continuing its journey around the sun.
However, due to their small size and rapid movement, these objects are difficult to detect, he reported Space.com.
When impacts on the moon occur, they expel the rubble in space. Although some larger pieces can be launched, most of the fragments are small, below 6.5 feet (2 meters) wide, and travel at high speeds. In general, this lunar rubble ends in solar orbit, but occasionally, some of them are briefly captured by the severity of the earth before resuming its path around the sun, according to a study published in the Icarus magazine.
It is “something like a square dance, where the partners change regularly and sometimes leave the dance floor for a while,” said Robert Jedicke, a researcher at the University of Hawaii and main author of the study, to Space.com by email.
Although the International Astronomical Union has not officially defined what a minimon is, the previous studies suggest that it refers to an object that is temporarily linked to the Earth, complete at least one orbit and enters approximately four times the distance of the Earth’s moon during its way.
The minimums can originate in various parts of the solar system, but a 2018 study proposed that the majority come from the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. However, recent discoveries of minimones with apparent lunar origins are challenging that theory.
In 2016, the Hawaii Pan-Starrs1 asteroid survey detected an object close to the Earth, called Kamo’oalewa (or 469219 Kamo’oalewa), which measures between 131 and 328 feet (40 to 100 meters) wide.
Although the Sun orbit next to the Earth, the subsequent investigation showed that it probably originated on the moon, possibly expelled during the impact that the Giordano crater Bruno 1 to 10 million years ago.
More recently, astronomers reported another temporary satellite of the Earth, 2024 PT5, which was discovered last year. Its composition seems to look more like the moon than an asteroid, which further supports the idea that some minimal can be fragments of lunar material.
