NASA to Track Asteroid 2024 PT5 on Next Close Pass, January 2025

The small near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5 was first observed on Aug. 7, 2024, by the Sutherland, South Africa telescope of the University of Hawai'i's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), which is funded by NASA. Estimated to be about 33 feet (10 meters) wide, the asteroid does not pose a hazard to Earth.

Because 2025 PT5 has a similar motion to Earth's around the Sun, the asteroid will linger as a distant companion of our planet for a few months at a distance of about nine times farther away from Earth than the Moon. During this time, the object will never be captured by Earth's gravity. So while it's not quite a "mini-moon," 2024 PT5 is an interesting object and NASA has plans to track it with planetary radar.

Part of NASA's Deep Space Network, the Goldstone Solar System Radar, near Barstow in California, will track the object during its next close pass of our planet, in January 2025, which will still be five times as far from Earth as the Moon. The asteroid will then leave the vicinity of Earth as it continues its orbit around the Sun.

Given the similarity between asteroid 2024 PT5's motion and that of our planet's, scientists at NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) suspect that the object could be a large chunk of rock ejected from the Moon's surface after an asteroid impact long ago. Rocket bodies from historical launches can also be found in such Earth-like orbits, but after analysis of this object's motion, it has been determined that 2024 PT5 is more likely of natural origin.

Based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, CNEOS precisely characterizes the orbits of all known near-Earth objects, predicts their close approaches with Earth, and makes comprehensive impact hazard assessments in support of the agency's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

ATLAS and the Goldstone Solar System Radar are supported by NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program within PDCO. Managed by JPL, the Deep Space Network receives programmatic oversight from the Space Communications and Navigation program office within the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.

More information about planetary defense at NASA can be found at: https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense/