The newest moon on Earth is leaving us
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You know the main moon of the Earth. It’s hard to miss right now. But every now and then, the gravity of our planet captures square objects like asteroids for a short time and they become small “miniatures” for a while.
In February 2020, for just the second time, astronomers discovered a trapped asteroid orbiting the Earth, a tiny moon called the 2020 CD3. Then, just a few months later, in September, it looked as if the third such full moon had been seen.
The object was originally thought to be an asteroid and was named as 2020 SO. It went close to the earth and was officially captured by our orbit in November, beginning the first of two orbits around us.
It took a very close approach on December 1, 2020, coming almost as close to the Earth’s surface as the ring where many of our largest telecommunications satellites are moving. This allowed space observers to take a closer look at the object and confirm that it was a relatively new space.
NASA was able to confirm that 2020 SO will be the Centaur high-level rocket upgrade from Surveyor 2’s doomed mission to the Moon.
The 1966 mission was to land softly on the surface of the moon but when the thrush failed a major accident came to the ground instead.
But the rocket rise lasted and disappeared from our sight for more than half a century.
That is until it passed too close to last year and until it was swept up in our attraction area. Now 2020 SO is ready to do its second close approach next week. After that, it is expected to break free again and go back into orbit around the sun.
This flight will not be as close to the one in December, but it will still be closer to our planet than our moon for a short time.
The closest time is on February 2. The Rome-based Virtual Telescope Project and astronaut Gianluca Masi will host an online viewing and farewell party for 2020 SO on February 1, kicking off at 10pm UTC (5pm ET).