- In late 2020, Earth received a new visitor in the form of what was originally thought to be a natural piece of space debris, such as a small asteroid.
- The object turned out to be a discarded rocket stage that was launched half a century ago and just happened to come back and get sucked in by Earth’s gravity.
- As it completes its final loop of our planet, the object will soon throw itself back into space and is unlikely to revisit our planet.
Maybe you missed the news last year – you know, because of the global pandemic and if not – but in November, a mysterious object was intercepted by Earth. When astronomers first saw it heading our way, they thought it was some sort of space rock, and although it was not on a collision course with our planet, it was destined to orbit Earth for a short time.
As it turned out, the object wasn’t a space rock or a comet, but a piece of man-made debris. The object, a rocket booster launched more than half a century ago, was part of the Surveyor 2 mission to the moon, and debris has been hanging around our planet ever since. Now, with one more dive around our world to complete, the “mini-moon” will soon go back into space, and we are unlikely to see it again.
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As EarthSky reports, the rocket first completed a very short flyby of Earth before rushing away from our planet and then being pulled back in. This last loop will be the last, as its momentum will be enough to escape Earth’s gravity and begin an adventure orbiting the sun.
The concept of a “mini-moon” is not exactly science fiction, and since we know that there are many small rocky bodies hanging in our neck of the forest, it seemed quite possible that the object was indeed a space rock. If it had, it would have been a true miniature (and temporary) moon, but the fact that it was just man-made junk means it doesn’t qualify for such a label.
Astronomers first became suspicious that the object was man-made when they realized that the path around the sun was very similar to that of Earth. It completed orbit every 387 Earth days, which is nearly identical to our planet’s orbit, and its incredibly slow speed suggested it was not an asteroid. Now that we know what it really is, all those clues make a lot more sense.
However, it will soon disappear. The object will likely pass Earth one last time in early February and then leave us for good. Now everyone waves goodbye.
Mike Wehner has spent the last decade reporting on technology and video games, covering the latest news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones and future technology. Most recently, Mike worked as a Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, appearing in USA Today, Time.com and numerous other web and print outlets. His love of reporting comes second to his gaming addiction.