NASA has confirmed that Earth will soon have a new companion in its orbit, a quasi-satellite named 2025 PN7. This celestial body, which is a type of asteroid that orbits the Sun, was discovered on August 29 by the Pan-STARRS observatory located on Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. Astronomers estimate that it has been circling the Sun within our solar system for decades.
The findings regarding 2025 PN7 were detailed in a publication in the Research Notes of The American Astronomical Society, authored by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, a researcher at the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences at the University Complutense of Madrid.
Currently, it is known that this space rock is situated approximately 384,400 kilometers from Earth, which translates to about 186,000 miles at its closest approach. According to NASA, the object presents challenges for observation, as it is detectable only when it nears our planet, as demonstrated during its recent summer passage.
Quasi-satellites, often referred to as mini-moons, are believed to be fragments expelled from our primary moon. Two notable examples similar to 2025 PN7 have been documented. The first is 2024 PT5, which orbited Earth for two months in 2024. An associate researcher at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona noted that this rock was rich in silicate minerals, suggesting it could be a piece of the Moon rather than an asteroid.
Another example is Kamo”oalewa, thought to be an ancient lunar fragment originating from the Giordano Bruno crater, which is located on the far side of the Moon, the side that faces away from Earth.
Marcos and his team concluded that “the Solar System is full of surprises, so we continue to search… for Earth”s neighborhood, the existence of 2025 PN7 suggests that there may be no lower limit to the size of a quasi-satellite.” This finding prompts further exploration into the nature of celestial bodies in close proximity to our planet.
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