Earth had a second moon for four months without knowing it. The Earth mini moon, a rock called 2026 QQ8, only about 3 to 6 feet across, has circled us since April. Astronomers did not spot it until August. Now they expect it to slip away between mid-December and January.
It is far too small and distant to see with your eyes or backyard gear, so there is no sky-watching party to plan. It also poses no danger. Space.com says a rock this small would burn up in the atmosphere even if it headed our way. If you want something in orbit to actually fret over, NASA’s Swift telescope is falling to Earth, though the odds are tiny.
How astronomers found this Earth mini moon
The Space.com report says the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center announced the find on Thursday, Oct. 29. The object is a small asteroid, and size estimates vary. They likely rest on how bright the rock looks, so treat them as approximate.
According to EarthSky, Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky made the discovery. The first sighting came from Piszkéstető Observatory in Hungary in August. Astronomers first suspected space debris. However, follow-up with the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope and the Lowell Discovery Telescope showed it is a natural rock, Gizmodo reports.
How long will Earth keep this temporary moon?
Not long. The rock crossed into Earth’s gravitational reach in April and became temporarily bound to us. It loops around the planet in a wide, kidney-shaped path. At its closest, it comes within about 1.5 times the distance to the Moon.
Astronomers expect the captured asteroid to break free between mid-December and January. That makes it outstay a typical houseguest, but not by much. Space.com notes it is larger than the average mini moon. The same report says a rock around 3 meters could stay for 10 to 20 years, so QQ8 is a short-term renter by comparison.
The real hook is the bigger picture. Space.com notes that research last year suggested Earth may have up to six mini moons at any given time, and some may be fragments of our own Moon. Tiny hitchhikers probably surround us, and we have simply never spotted them.
What happens next for the captured asteroid
Astronomers are using the remaining weeks for follow-up observations, per Gizmodo. QQ8 orbits the Sun in about 359 days, so it swings back near Earth roughly once every 10 years. Earth came close to it in 1965 without capturing it. EarthSky says it will return in 2058 but will not become a mini-moon again.
Some details are still unsettled. The exact capture date, the object’s origin and its final size are all open questions. Even the name is informal: officially, scientists call these “temporarily captured objects.”
Space news moves fast, from Starship deploying Starlink V3 satellites to a rescue robot tumbling in orbit. This one is quieter and stranger.
So wave while you can. In about six weeks, Earth goes back to a one-moon household, and the next visit is more than three decades away.
