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Space
Space
Science
Robert Lea

Earth's mini-moon has finally departed. Will it ever return as a 'second moon?'

An illustration of the asteroid PT5 as it leaves Earth after a stint as our "second moon.".

For the last few months Earth has had a "second moon," albeit a much more diminutive one than our main lunar companion. Unlike the moon, this "mini-moon" was never expected to stick around.

The mini-moon is officially known as asteroid 2024 PT5. After first joining up with Earth on Sept. 29, 2024, the mini-moon left its orbit around our planet at 10:43 a.m. EST (1543 GMT) on Monday (Nov. 25), not sticking around long enough to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday (Nov. 28).

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