🌅 Earth’s Newest Moon

SOURCE

EarthSky

WHAT TO KNOW

• 2025 PN7 is a recently discovered space rock some 62 feet (19 meters) in diameter that’s been following the Earth for roughly 60 years. Astronomers believe it will stay with us for another 60 years before finally drifting away.

WHY IT MATTERS

• 2025 PN7 is the Earth’s newest “quasi-moon,” bringing our current total to eight. Astronomers say it stayed hidden for so long because it’s dim and relatively small, making it hard to spot from Earth. It’s also incredibly far away, at times sitting some 17 million kilometers from us.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The Earth’s quasi-moons are asteroids that appear to orbit the planet but actually share their orbit of the Sun with the Earth. Unlike a real moon, which is permanently locked in a planet’s gravity, quasi-moons come and then go. Thus, the Earth still only has one official Moon.