Since this Sunday, September 29, an extraterrestrial presence has been accompanying us on Earth and will remain here until November 25. It is the meteorite PT5-2024.
But don’t worry, this celestial body will remain trapped in the atmosphere. It measures about 10 meters in diameter and travels at a speed of 3,500 kilometers per hour.
According to UNAM global magazine, the meteorite will become a small second moon of our planet.
The report, which includes interviews with renowned scientists, such as Dr. Julieta Fierro, explains that the object will not be able to make a complete circle around the Earth.
In fact, its trajectory will be in the shape of a horseshoe, at the end of which it will continue its journey through the solar system.
Due to its size and the distance of its passage, it does not represent any danger. For this reason, it will not be possible to observe it either with the naked eye or with amateur telescopes. Only professional and large equipment, such as planetarium telescopes, will be able to see it.
Meteorite PT5-2024 was discovered in South Africa.
If you were wondering how they detected such a small object, we tell you that several nations around the world have specialized programs. Their mission is to detect asteroids that could represent danger and divert their trajectory.
In this case, according to UNAM, “a set of telescopes located in South Africa, a region that has a different distribution of days and nights than the rest of the world”, discovered it.
And of course it is not the first meteorite that has visited Earth. In 2006 we had the satellite 2006 RH120, while in 2022, the asteroid Otto also came close to our planet.
And what if, as in Armageddon or Don’t Look Up, scientists detect a potentially dangerous meteorite? That is the mission of projects like the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), launched in 2021 by NASA. In 2022, this initiative diverted the trajectory of the asteroid Dimorphos.
As Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Steve Buscemi did in the 1998 film, one of the possibilities is to fragment the asteroids before they reach Earth.
“One option would be to divert them to the Moon and extract their resources from there,” Fierro explained.
And if you don’t remember your science classes, meteorites can be the remains of planets that exploded or are formed from material generated by the birth of a new star in space. Some more come from outside the Solar System.