Mairlyn's Photos - Oct 25 2025 - Earth's Two Moons
The Earth will have two moons until 2083 - that’s the headline. It is an asteroid named 2025 PN7 and has been called a “quasi-moon” because it shares a similar orbit with Earth around the Sun. Will we be able to see it? That’s my question. The answer is - get a telescope. Too bad. It would be pretty amazing to be able to see two moons. It has happened when a near-Earth object is “temporarily captured by Earth’s gravity and appears as a mini-moon.
It isn’t really a moon because it isn’t orbiting the Earth, it is orbiting the Sun. And it was first observed this year. The guess is that it has been synchronized with Earth for 60 years. There have been other quasi-moons - 469219 Kamo’oalewa is another near-Earth object. It was discovered in 2016. Near-Earth objects are distinct from Trojans. That is an asteroid that orbits the Sun having a similar orbit to the Earth. An Earth trojan is located at one of the two gravitationally stable points along that orbit. There are leading and trailing versions and two have been discovered in 2010 and 2020. It is very complicated up there with Near-Earth Objects being Near-Earth Asteroids, and Near-Earth Comets and then there are subtypes within these groups. It seems to me there is still lots to discover.
What about this picture? It is the moon over Lake Ontario turned into an abstract painting.
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