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Earth has caught a 'second moon'

41 pointsby divbzero10/01/202437 commentsview on HN

Comments

ravenstine10/01/2024

I'd hardly call a 37 foot object that wont even make a complete orbit a "second moon."

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RandomCitizen1210/01/2024

How can it be called a 'capture' when it's already known when and how it will leave. That's like calling a resort vacation stay a kidnapping.

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tboyd4710/01/2024

> Marcos explained, "Asteroid 2024 PT5 will not describe a full orbit around Earth. You may say that if a true satellite is like a customer buying goods inside a store, objects like 2024 PT5 are window shoppers."

Is it a NASA thing to deploy outrageously absurd analogies for no apparent reason? Is there a checkout desk for space objects?

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buildsjets10/01/2024

"There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called 2024 PT5)" just doesn't hit the same.

https://genius.com/The-b-52s-theres-a-moon-in-the-sky-called...

737373737310/01/2024

I wish spaceflight was sufficiently commoditized that sending a satellite there to get some pictures would be trivial

qwertox10/01/2024

Which website/software/app is good for tracking the location of 2024 PT5, so that it can be found in the local night sky?

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lxgr10/01/2024

> While the moon is an estimated 2,159 miles (3,475 km) in diameter [...]

Is the article implying that we don't know the Moon's (I assume they're referring to the capital-M one) diameter to at least kilometer-precision...?

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aryan1410/01/2024

Didn’t know we were referring to asteroids as moons now

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ck210/01/2024

so even the Green Bank telescope could only get two pixels?

https://petapixel.com/2023/01/26/these-are-the-highest-resol...

aussieguy123410/02/2024

Now that it's here, can it be mined?