A recently discovered near-Earth asteroid, 2024 PT5, is likely composed of rock ejected from the Moon's surface after a large impact thousands of years ago. This finding, based on its composition and orbital characteristics, doubles the number of known lunar-origin asteroids and offers exciting opportunities to study both lunar and asteroid science.
Typically, asteroids — like the one depicted in this artist’s concept — originate from the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but a small population of near-Earth objects may also come from the Moon ’s surface after being ejected into space by an impact.The near-Earth object was likely ejected into space after an impact thousands of years ago. Now it could contribute new insights to asteroid and lunar science.
“We had a general idea that this asteroid may have come from the Moon, but the smoking gun was when we found out that it was rich in silicate minerals — not the kind that are seen on asteroids but those that have been found in lunar rock samples,” said Teddy Kareta, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, who led the research.
“Space debris and space rocks move slightly differently in space,” said Oscar Fuentes-Muñoz, a study coauthor and NASA postdoctoral fellow at JPL working with the CNEOS team. “Human-made debris is usually relatively light and gets pushed around by the pressure of sunlight. That 2024 PT5 doesn’t move this way indicates it is much denser than space debris.”The discovery of 2024 PT5 doubles the number of known asteroids thought to originate from the Moon.
ASTEROIDS MOON SOLAR RADIATION IMPACT CRATERS LUNAR SCIENCE
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