Earth's second "moon" will make one last return before saying goodbye to us forever

Earth’s second “moon” will make one last return before saying goodbye to us forever

The second month of Earth will approach the planet the next week before launching into space, never to be seen again.

“What about the second month?” Astronomers call it that 2020 S.O. – A small object that fell halfway into Earth’s orbit between our planet Luna In September 2020.

Such temporary satellites are called mini-moons, although its lunar position is somewhat misleading in this regard; In December 2020, NASA researchers found that this object was not a space rock, but rather Remnants of a 1960s rocket Booster engaged in the monthly work of the American Surveyor.

This extraterrestrial mini-moon took a very close approach to Earth on December 1 (a day before it was identified as a long-lost booster by NASA), but returns to another round of success, Confirm EarthSky.org.

Minimoon 2020 SO will make one last approach to Earth at a distance of about 220,000 kilometers from Earth on Tuesday (February 2), or 58% of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

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According to Earthsky, the impetus will then leave Earth’s orbit until March 2021. After that, the old minimoon will be another object orbiting the sun. Virtual telescope project An online farewell to the subject will be held on the night of February 1 in Rome.

NASA learned that this object has taken many approaches closer to Earth over the decades, even relatively close to 1966 – the company launched its monthly Surveyor 2 spacecraft from behind an impetus. Centaur Rocket.

This gave the first major indication that SO 2020 was man-made; They confirmed this by comparing the chemical composition of the material with another rocket propulsion that has been in orbit since 1971.

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Godspeed, at least 2020 SO. I built you. I abandoned you. Now you are abandoning us.

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This article was originally published The science of living. Read the original article Here.

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