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In the early hours of December 1, an object is set to wobble close to Earth, potentially becoming caught in our planet’s orbit to become a “mini-moon”. Astronomers have dubbed the 2020 SO object, but what it is is a mystery.
The object is between five and ten meters and will come within only 13 percent of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Some have said it will be an “extremely close encounter” as it will fly only 50,000 kilometers from our planet.
At that distance, it’s close enough to be trapped in the gravitational pull of the Earth.
A video of the simulation shows the 2020 SO object making two close approaches to Earth while in our planet’s orbit.
The first will arrive tonight, then it appears that it will make an attempt to move away from our planet, before being sucked into the gravitational pull for a close approach in March 2021.
However, experts have noticed something strange about the incoming space object
The speed of 2020 SO is much slower than any space rock, which has led to suggesting that it could be something man-made.
The average space rock travels at a speed between 11 kilometers per second and 72 kilometers per second.
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“We still don’t know what it is: an asteroid or the Surveyor 2 rocket
“The near-Earth 2020 SO object, discovered by the Pan-STARRS investigation on September 17, 2020 and announced two days later by the Minor Planet Center, has an estimated diameter of between 4.5 and 10 meters.
“We are not sure if it is an asteroid (ie a natural body), as it could be the propulsion rocket of NASA’s Surveyor 2 mission, dating back to 1966.”
Earth’s latest mini-moon arrived earlier this year when a small meteor called 2020 CD3, which was about the size of a car, was captured from the planet’s orbit.
The space rock remained in orbit for about three months before continuing its journey through the solar system in March.
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