In the 1960s, 2025 PN7 began travelling in step with Earth. 60 years later, American astronomers discovered it and found older images hiding the asteroid in plain sight

For roughly six decades, a tiny asteroid has been keeping pace with Earth without anyone realizing it. Astronomers finally identified the object, now known as 2025 PN7 , after the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope detected it on Aug. 2, 2025. The surprise came when researchers ran its orbit backward and found that its unusual relationship with Earth reaches back to the 1960s.

That does not mean Earth secretly gained another moon. 2025 PN7 does not orbit our planet, and it is not gravitationally bound to Earth like the Moon. Instead, it travels around the Sun on an orbit close to Earth's, creating a long-lasting orbital relationship that makes the asteroid appear to accompany us.