WNKY News 40 Weather Report: ASTEROIDS AND ‘MINI MOONS’

Will Kentucky See Earth's Brief Second Moon?

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- Have you heard about the ‘mini moon’ craze buzzing over social media? Asteroid 2024 P5  was detected earlier this month by researchers in South Africa. This space phenomenon is expected to get in close proximity with Earth’s orbit, resembling what may soon become Earth’s ‘mini moon’.

” We’ll get them maybe once a year, once every couple of years.”  Said Maxx Haehn, Observatory Observation Scientist at WKU. 

According to Haehn, our planet moves through our solar system at tens of thousands of miles per hour, blasting through tiny rocks floating in space. 

“With these rocks we have no reason to assume that this is a new phenomenon, but we haven’t been hearing about it much until recently.” Said Chris Chandler, Planetarium Specialist at WKU. 

Chandler mentioned that new technological advancements allow scientists to track this space phenomenon within the last 5 or 6 years. Researchers are now confident to watch and  forecast the paths of these rocks floating through space.

Will you be able to see it? Most likely not, unless you have a very powerful telescope.

“It’s orbit distances is almost, you know, in the same ballpark as the moon. If you try to see the flag on the moon, that’s only about a foot across. So far in the same ballpark there, that’s roughly the viewing power. You need to be able to see it.” – Haehn

The size of this chunk of rock is roughly the size of a transit bus. This poses no threat to our planet. Chandler said that the tiny 33ft rock would likely end up shattered into pieces if it were to hit our planet. Earth actually gets hit with space debris almost every day. The asteroid begins to orbit near Earth September 29th and lasts for nearly two months through November.