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This photo from 1964 shows a Centaur rocket in the upper stage. The 2020 SO space object could be one of them.
NASA
The moon shouldn’t be too jealous. Earth has another satellite right now, but it’s only a temporary adventure. The exact identity of the object, named 2020 SO, is still a lingering question, but you can look at it on Monday, November 30, as it approaches Earth. The Virtual Telescope Project will stream the overflight.
Earth’s gravitational pull captured the object in our planet’s orbit earlier this month, making 2020 SO a kind of mini-moon.
Usually, we would expect an object like this to be an asteroid, and there are many that fly into space. But 2020 SO may have a more earthly identity. The 2020 SW orbit around the sun – which is very similar to that of the Earth – has convinced researchers that it is probably not a rock. but it’s actually a piece of space junk from a NASA mission.
The closest approach of the object to our planet will be on December 1st. The Virtual Telescope Project will offer live streaming starting at 2:00 PM PT on November 30th.
Virtual Telescope project founder Gianluca Masi has already managed to capture a view of the tiny object on November 22. It looks like a dot on a background of stars.
The Virtual Telescope project identified the 2020 SO on November 22. The arrow points to the object.
Gianluca Masi / Virtual Telescope Project
Scientists from NASA’s JPL Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) analyzed the 2020 SO path and followed it over time.
“One of the possible paths for 2020 SO brought the object very close to Earth and the Moon in late September 1966,” CNEOS Director Paul Chodas said in a statement from NASA in early November. “It was like a eureka moment where a quick check of the launch dates of the lunar missions showed a match with the Surveyor 2 mission.”
NASA’s hapless lander Surveyor 2 ended up crashing to the surface of the moon, but the Centaur rocket fled into space.
NASA predicts 2020 SO will remain in Earth’s orbit until March 2021, when it wanders in a new orbit around the sun. The agency’s planetary defense coordination office shared a file visual of the journey of the object around the Earth.
The upcoming close-up approach should give astronomers a chance to compose the 2020 composition of SO and tell us if it’s really a relic from the 1960s.
Even with a telescope view, 2020 SO should appear as a bright spot of light traveling against the darkness of space. The great thing is to have the chance to witness the return of a piece of space history to its old grounds.
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