What you need to know about Earth's new, temporary mini-moon

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The object is part of the Arjuna asteroid belt.

Speaking to Space.com, Universidad Complutense de Madrid professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos — one of the people who discovered the mini-moon — described Arjuna as “a secondary asteroid belt made of space rocks that follow orbits very similar to that of Earth at an average distance to the sun of about 93 million miles.”

He said that some objects in the belt can come close enough to Earth and at velocities low enough (roughly 2.8 million miles away and 2,200 miles per hour) to allow them to temporarily orbit Earth.

Other scientists even think that, based upon its past trajectory, the asteroid might be a piece of Earth’s moon that flew off after a previous impact.



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Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden is a news writer for LinkDaddy News. She writes health, sport, tech, and more. Some of her favorite topics include the latest trends in fitness and wellness, the best ways to use technology to improve your life, and the latest developments in medical research.

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