Opinion: Yes, Virginia, there is a space visitor

Scientists at the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Sutherland, South Africa, knew it as early as August 7. An ET was about to invade our ‘hood. It was still far out in space, approximately 2.8 million miles away. But it was headed straight for Earth, traveling at 2,200 miles per hour. Moreover, careful calculations indicated that the ET would not be just a flyby, gently kissing our orbit and then drifting on its way never to be seen again. Its trajectory indicated that it would be keeping an eye on our planet in a horseshoe-shaped orbit for nearly two months.

The Arrival

Named “2024 PT5,” the visitor arrived on September 29. Writing for Newsweek in early September, Jess Thomson stated, “2024 PT5 is expected to swing around the Earth along a horseshoe-shaped path but not fully complete a single orbit around our planet, making it a “temporarily captured flyby.” The chunk of rock originated in the Arjuna asteroid belt. According to a study published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, that group of asteroids follow an orbit that is very similar to Earth’s.

Occasionally, according to the scientists, some of the asteroids get relatively close to our planet which is much larger. Then, if an asteroid is moving slowly enough (e.g., 2,200 mph is “slow” by astronomical standards), it can be sucked into our orbit, becoming a captured flyby or a mini-moon.