Get ready to experience a cosmic wonder this autumn. According to scientists, Earth is on the verge of getting a second moon.
That is, a small asteroid captured by Earth's gravity will temporarily become a "small moon".
The space guest will stay that way for a few months starting September 29 before escaping Earth's gravity.
Sadly, this second moon is too small and dim for you to see without a professional-grade telescope.
The asteroid was first detected by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on August 7.
Scientists will study its trajectory and publish their findings in the Proceedings of the American Astronomical Society.
The asteroid, known to scientists as 2024 PT5, comes from the rocky Arjuna asteroid belt, which orbits very similar to Earth.
At times, some of these asteroids come relatively close to our planet, up to 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km).
According to the researchers who studied this, if such an asteroid was traveling at a speed as low as 2,200 miles per hour (3,540km/h), the Earth's gravitational field could exert a strong influence on it, and that force would be enough to temporarily detain it.
If things go right, the small asteroid will spend about two months orbiting Earth starting this weekend.
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