2024 PT was very first discovered on August 7, 2024, by the NASA-funded Sutherland, South Africa, telescope of the University of Hawai’i’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).

The asteroid does not posture a risk to Earth, however its orbit around the Sun carefully matches that of our world.

About 10 m (33 feet) large, the things seems made up of rock broken off from the Moon’s surface area and ejected into area after a big effect.

“We had a basic concept that this asteroid might have originated from the Moon, however the smoking cigarettes weapon was when we learnt that it was abundant in silicate minerals– not the kind that are seen on asteroids however those that have actually been discovered in lunar rock samples,” stated Dr. Teddy Kareta, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory.

“It appears like it hasn’t remained in area for long, perhaps simply a couple of thousand years or two, as there’s an absence of area weathering that would have triggered its spectrum to redden.”

Dr. Kareta and his associates utilized observations from the Lowell Discovery Telescope and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawai’i to reveal that the spectrum of shown sunshine from the surface area of 2024 PT didn’t match that of any recognized asteroid type. Rather, the shown light more carefully matched lunar rocks.

This discovery doubles the variety of recognized asteroids believed to stem from the Moon.

“Asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa was discovered in 2016 with an Earth-like orbit around the Sun, suggesting that it might likewise have actually been ejected from the lunar surface area after a big effect,” the astronomers stated.

“As telescopes end up being more conscious smaller sized asteroids, more possible Moon stones will be found, producing an amazing chance not just for researchers studying an uncommon population of asteroids, however likewise for researchers studying the Moon.”

“If a lunar asteroid can be straight connected to a particular effect crater on the Moon, studying it might provide insights into cratering procedures on the pockmarked lunar surface area.”

“Also, product from deep listed below the lunar surface area– in the type of asteroids passing near Earth– might be available to future researchers to study.”

“This is a story about the Moon as informed by asteroid researchers,” Dr. Kareta stated.

“It’s an unusual circumstance where we’ve headed out to study an asteroid however then wandered off into brand-new area in regards to the concerns we can ask of 2024 PT5.”

The findings were released January 14, 2025 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

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Theodore Kareta et al2025. On the Lunar Origin of Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 PT5. ApJL 979, L8; doi: 10.3847/ 2041-8213/ ad9ea8