From time to time, our planet appears additional natural satellites, which are called mini-Moons. These are asteroids that flew close to the Earth and were captured by its gravity. Thus, these space rocks remain orbiting the Earth for weeks, months and even years.. From September to November 2024, the Earth had an additional satellite in the form of a 10-meter asteroid 2024 PT5. The authors of the study, published on the arXiv preprint server, believe that this space rock was once part of the Moon, writes ScienceAlert.

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Scientists have long studied near-Earth asteroids to understand their origins.. This can be done by determining the relationship between their current orbits, properties and potential sources of origin. One such source is the main asteroid belt, which is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but this is not the only place where space rocks come to us from. Data about an asteroid's physical characteristics, composition, and reflectivity can tell us where it actually came from..

Scientists using ground-based telescopes observed asteroid 2024 PT5 and, based on the spectrum of light that it reflects, were able to draw conclusions about its properties. Observations have shown that it is a rocky asteroid rich in silicate rocks.

At the same time, as it turned out, its composition is more consistent with the composition of lunar rocks and does not correspond to any known type of asteroids. Scientists have concluded that 2024 PT5 is rich in pyroxene, indicating that its source is a magmatic environment. Other asteroids tend to be rich in olivine. Based on these data and the trajectory of movement, scientists came to the conclusion that this asteroid was ejected from the Moon as a result of an impact on its surface by another asteroid.

Considering that this is the second time that a near-Earth asteroid ejected from the Moon has been discovered, scientists believe that there may be a whole population of such space rocks that has yet to be discovered.

So far, scientists believe that 16 near-Earth asteroids could have been part of the Moon in the past, but most likely there are many more.

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