‘Mini Moon’ Object Moves Away from Earth’s Orbit — VOA Learning English
Topics: наука й природа
Beginning
An asteroid that moved closer to Earth’s orbit in recent months is now moving away from our planet as gravity pulls it back toward the sun.
The asteroid is small – about 10 meters long – and never presented any threat to Earth. But the object, known as 2024 PT5, was recently pulled closer to our planet by Earth’s gravitational forces.
Scientists sometimes call such objects “mini-moons.” This is because they behave similarly to the permanent moon orbiting Earth when they are captured by gravity. But they are much smaller and stay only temporarily in Earth’s orbit.
The American space agency NASA said it does not consider 2024 PT5 a mini-moon because it was never expected to be fully captured by…
Tap any word for its translation at once; the word goes into your deck together with its sentence.