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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Science
Richard Luscombe and agency

Earth’s ‘mini moon’ which may be chunk of actual moon set to disappear

moon partially covered
A supermoon with a partial lunar eclipse rises over Lake Michigan in Chicago, on 17 September 2024. Photograph: Kiichiro Sato/AP

A so-called mini-moon of Earth that has been lingering in the heavens since September will begin a journey towards the sun on Monday as it prepares to disappear until 2055.

The school-bus-sized asteroid known as 2024 PT5 might actually be a huge boulder that broke from the moon after another space rock crashed into it centuries ago, astronomers say.

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