Earth bids farewell to its temporary 'mini moon' that is possibly a chunk of our actual moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Planet Earth is parting company with an asteroid that's been tagging along as a "mini moon" for the past two months.

The harmless space rock will peel away on Monday, overcome by the stronger tug of the sun's gravity. But it will zip closer for a quick visit in January.

NASA will use a radar antenna to observe the 33-foot (10-meter) asteroid then. That should deepen scientists' understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5, quite possibly a boulder that was blasted off the moon by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.

While not technically a moon — NASA stresses it...

 

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