A second "moon" for Earth

By Luke86 | Astrofacts | 28 Feb 2020


2020 CD3, the temporary name of this object, has been "captured" about 3 years ago

Its size is included between 2 and 3,5 meters: formerly a car, but obviously i'm not talking about the Elon Musk's Tesla, sent in open space 2 years ago. It consist in a very small asteroid, of 20th magnitude, that probably had orbited on the same trajectory of Earth's and has been tangled about 3 years ago by the Earth gravitational pull.

It's very difficult to observe it, due to its very low brightness and its size. It has been discovered on the 15th of February by the astronomers of Mount Lemmon Observatory, Theodore Pruyne and Kacper Wierzchos

Ready for been "knock free"

Probably the stint of this object as a second moon will end soon, cause of gravitational nudges of Earth, Moon and Sun. This already could happen in April 2020, according with some estimates. 

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