A chunk of space rock that visited near Earth's orbit last year was widely called a "mini-moon," a nickname that was more appropriate than thought.

Using the Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, scientists analyzed 2024 PT5’s surface and discovered that the mini-moon reflects light almost ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. A small space rock ...

Asteroid 2024 PT5, which almost became a temporary mini-moon to Earth, was recently found to be a broken-off part of the moon itself. This discovery has led scientists to believe there are many ...

A small asteroid lingered close to our planet in its orbit around the Sun, temporarily caught by Earth’s gravity to become a far away mini-moon. A closer look at the space rock reveals a rather ...

A mini-moon refers to a small celestial body ... by both the Sun's and Earth's gravitational forces. This is a prime opportunity to study the asteroid, potentially revealing valuable data about ...

WASHINGTON — Earth’s moon will soon have some company — a “mini moon.” The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 33 feet. When it whizzes by Earth ...

A chunk of space rock that visited near Earth's orbit last year was widely referred to as a "mini-moon." Turns out the lunar-inspired moniker may have been more accurate than we realized.

A small space rock that lingered near Earth last year and was referred to as its temporary “mini-moon” may actually be a chunk of the moon that chipped off thousands of years ago. The ...

While the space rocks largely originate from the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, some have been created after impacts chipped off parts of the moon's surface.