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On Sunday (Sept. 29), Earth captured a "second moon" that will accompany our planet on its journey around the sun for the next two months.
The clingy space rock is actually a near-Earth asteroid named 2024 PT5, which measures an estimated 33 feet (10 meters) wide, or about the length of a school bus. Snagged by Earth's gravity during an unusually close approach, this "minimoon" is predicted to orbit our planet for just 57 days; on Nov. 25, the asteroid will break free of Earth's influence and resume its regular orbit of the sun without a chaperone, astronomers wrote in the journal Research Notes of the AAS.
While the idea of a "second moon" may sound surreal and exciting, 2024 PT5 will be a mostly invisible travel companion. Measuring at least 300,000 times smaller than our permanent moon,the new minimoon is far too tiny to be visible to the naked eye — and commercial backyard telescopes and stargazing binoculars won't help much, either.
originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Skywatcher2011
Its about the size of a bus so i dont know about that.
It might be visible through binoculars or a telescope through.
originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: theatreboy
Here:
education.nationalgeographic.org...
Unlike Planets, size doesn't matter with moons.
originally posted by: BeyondKnowledge3
a reply to: Skywatcher2011
You are obviously confusing the words Moon and moon. The word Moon refers only to the Earth's moon and no other moon. It is the commonly used name for the Earth's moon. Now moon refers to any object in orbit of a planet. Mostly naturally occuring objects.
A mini moon is in no way to be considered a mini Moon. They are entirely different objects. You could use the proper name for the Moon to clear up the confusion. That is Luna. But most people don't know that.
I hope this helps.
Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation, mitigate hail or disperse fog. The usual objective is to increase rain or snow, either for its own sake or to prevent precipitation from occurring in days afterward.
originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Skywatcher2011
Its about the size of a bus so i dont know about that.
It might be visible through binoculars or a telescope through.
originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Oldcarpy2
Naw they need a target aka clouds as you know.
Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation, mitigate hail or disperse fog. The usual objective is to increase rain or snow, either for its own sake or to prevent precipitation from occurring in days afterward.
www.britannica.com...