Would you believe it? Mysterious new “moon” next to Earth

Astronomers have recently discovered a new cosmic guest in Earth’s orbit. Known as asteroid 2025 PN 7, this object is orbiting in a path almost identical to Earth’s. Such asteroids are called quasi-moons or moon-like asteroids.

The Pan-STARRS Observatory at the University of Hawaii first detected it on August 2. Subsequent studies have shown that the asteroid has been keeping pace with Earth since 1957. According to astronomers, it will move in a different direction in 2083 after staying next to Earth for 126 years.

The study found that it came closest to Earth in August 1980, about 2.5 million miles away—which is ten times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The maximum distance could be 11 million miles.

2025 PN 7 may be the smallest of the quasi-moons detected so far. It is thought to be between 52 and 160 feet long, but its exact size has not yet been determined.

“There is no definitive information about its origin, but it can be speculated,” said Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, an astronomer at the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain. “It could come from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, or it could be a piece of debris from a meteorite impact on the moon.”

Quasi-moons are not compared to conventional mini-moons. Mini-moons orbit the Earth for a few months and then move away, but quasi-moons orbit the Sun and stay close to Earth for hundreds of years.

China plans to send the Tianwen-2 spacecraft with another previously discovered quasi-moon, “Kamoʻoʻaleva,” to collect samples from the asteroid.

Experts say that while these asteroids around Earth do not pose a risk to Earth, they are valuable clues for scientists in understanding the formation and evolution of the solar system.