The second moon orbiting Earth? I found a 3m asteroid

The moon exists as a satellite orbiting the earth, but it is said that a new celestial body has been discovered. Earth’s second (?) moon, discovered on February 15, 2020, is only 1.9 to 3,5 m, and its orbit is unstable, so it can be said that it is temporary to live as a satellite of the Earth.

The Catalina Sky Survey, an observation project at the University of Arizona’s Lunar Planetary Research Institute, revealed on February 26 that a small lunar object 2020 CD3 in Earth’s orbit was found to exist in a form temporarily captured by Earth. It was explained that this was a Class 20 object discovered by Catalina Sky Survey on February 15th.

They have made more than 30 observations by February 17 to confirm the existence and orbit of the 2020 CD3. The research team emphasized that the 2020 CD3 is a C-type asteroid with a diameter of only 1.9 to 3.5 m, and is a small but large discovery. This is because the 2020 CD3 is the second asteroid orbiting Earth among nearly 1 million asteroids discovered so far.

Catalina Sky Survey discovered 2006 RH120, the second moon orbiting the Earth in 2006. The previously discovered 2006 RH120 had an unstable orbit and remained as Earth’s satellite from September 2006 to June 2007, but the orbit of the 2020 CD3 is also quite unstable.

According to the simulation results of the 2020 CD3 orbiting, the 2020 CD3 was captured by Earth three years ago and has been orbiting the Earth at a speed of 47 days to a week since. One expert said that the 2020 CD3 is gradually moving away from Earth, and expressed the view that it is likely to deviate from Earth’s orbit in April. Related information can be found here .