A **mini moon** that is set to say goodbye to Earth may actually be a small piece of our enduring, larger **moon** — the one that has been orbiting Earth long before human existence.

A recent investigation has delved into this bus-sized **space** rock to gain insights into its material makeup, spin, and path. Researchers propose that this mini moon, officially designated as **2024 PT5**, could represent a combination of an S-type **asteroid** (made of silicates and metals) and a V-type asteroid akin to **Vesta**, the second-largest entity in the **main asteroid belt**.

Although the conclusions are not absolute, they suggest that 2024 PT5 might possess a lunar origin, closely matching samples gathered by the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976 and NASA’s Apollo 12 mission in 1969. Both missions collected substances from the **maria**, the shadowy, lava-filled expanses of the moon.

The paper, penned by the two astronomers who identified the mini moon in August, proposes that 2024 PT5 could have emerged from craters formed in the last million years. The manuscript is currently **under peer review** for issuance in *Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters*.

Asteroid 2024 PT5, which completes a full rotation once every hour, has been circling Earth since September 29 and is forecasted to leave on November 25, according to the study. Its appearance has ignited discussions, with some asserting that labeling such a small entity as a “moon” is misleading. Even Neil deGrasse Tyson commented, labeling the term “click bait.” Nonetheless, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, one of the astronomers involved in its discovery, defends the nomenclature, referencing scientific literature to validate its usage.

“What we present is a clear instance of employing disparate scientific parameters,” de la Fuente Marcos shared with Mashable. “It is a temporarily captured satellite of Earth; you can call it a mini moon if you wish.”

Asteroids are frequently affected by Earth’s gravitational force, yet most merely pass through without forming a complete orbit. Many of these objects are believed to originate from the **Arjuna asteroid belt**, a cluster of rocks near Earth identified in the early 1990s. These asteroids finish one orbit around the **sun** annually, with Earth and the moon traversing the center of this belt. De la Fuente Marcos indicates that 2024 PT5 could reemerge as a mini moon in the future.

However, 2024 PT5 is a transient visitor when compared to other mini moons. For example, in 2006, an entity named **RH120** orbited Earth for one year before being expelled in 2007. Another mini moon that departed in May 2020 might have orbited Earth for several years.

Despite the regularity of these occurrences, mini moons are still captivating, according to Antonio Maudes, CEO of **Light Bridges**, a company overseeing robotic telescopes in Spain’s Canary Islands. Light Bridges’ **Two-meter Twin Telescope** offered essential observational data for the research team.

“You likely won’t encounter more intriguing objects than these in the solar system since they are so close to Earth, and they will return,” Maudes conveyed to Mashable. “That’s impressive.”

Light Bridges is engaged in a project in Spain to observe **cislunar space** — the area between Earth and the moon — to enhance understanding of the origins, orbits, materials, and rotation rates of mini moons. This data could be beneficial not only for identifying **potentially hazardous asteroids** but also for commercial applications.

Venture capitalists have expressed interest in the burgeoning **space-mining** sector, which aims to extract precious minerals from asteroids. The Arjuna asteroids, being nearer to Earth than those in the main asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter, may serve as more feasible targets. Adolfo Nemirovsky, a physicist consulting for Light Bridges, likens these nearby asteroids to a “Home Depot” — handy sources of materials for constructing moon bases and facilitating space missions.

While 2024 PT5 is on its departure, many astronomers appreciate that it has drawn attention to the reality that there is significantly more occurring in space than we usually acknowledge.

“You may have the impression that there’s an empty void between here and the moon, as if there’s nothing there — that’s far from true,” Maudes remarked. “Numerous different forces are in motion.”

NASA is scheduled to observe 2024 PT5 again with the **Goldstone Solar System Radar** in California in January 2025. By that time, the object will be much farther away — approximately five times the distance from Earth to the **moon** (around **239,000 miles** away) — before it continues its orbit around the sun.