In 2016, scientists spotted Kamo’oalewa ,a 40 to 100 metre object, during a planetary defence survey to discover space rocks that could possibly hit our planet.
At first, the object appeared to orbit Earth in a similar way to our Moon. But astronomers found it was actually orbiting the Sun on a very similar path to Earth. So, Kamo’oalewa was demoted from a potential new moon to a near-Earth asteroid and a quasi-satellite to Earth.
However, the asteroid’s connection to the Moon could run deeper. The object’s Earth-like orbit and Moon-like composition may indicate that it was created when a chunk of the Moon was thrown into space by an asteroid impact.
📹 ESA – European Space Agency
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