Earth to get a mini-moon starting today!

From today until November 25, Earth will have an asteroid mini-moon. That's when the newly discovered asteroid 2024 PT5 will get close enough to Earth to be captured temporarily by our planet's more powerful gravity. Image via Tony Dunn (@tony873004 on X). Read about Earth's mini-moon. Earth to get a mini-moon starting today! Starting today, September 29, a 33-foot (10 meters) wide asteroid will temporarily begin orbiting Earth. Earth’s gravity will capture this mini-moon until November 25, when the sun will once again pull it away and back into a sun-centered - or heliocentric - orbit. Read more about 2024 PT5, Earth's new, temporary mini-moon. What's between life and death? Life and death are traditionally viewed as opposites. But the emergence of new multicellular lifeforms from the cells of a dead organism introduces a 3rd state that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death. Scientists called them biobots. They are tiny, living robots powered by cells to perform tasks. And scientists believe they can one day use biobots in medicine. Read about biobots, a 3rd state between life and death. LIVE MONDAY: SpaceX and Space Race 2.0, with Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy. He's the author of 2 books: Liftoff (about the rise of SpaceX) and Reentry (on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon). He'll be speaking LIVE MONDAY with EarthSky's Dave Adalian, at 12:15 p.m. CDT (17:15 UTC). Join us! Click here for a "notify me" button. Meet Fomalhaut, the loneliest star in the southern sky Fomalhaut is also called the Loneliest Star because it’s the only bright star in a wide stretch of sky. From the Northern Hemisphere, Fomalhaut arcs in solitary splendor across the southern sky in autumn. From the Southern Hemisphere, you can look higher up to see Fomalhaut in your season of spring. In 2024, Fomalhaut isn’t so solitary. A bright planet, Saturn, appears near it in the sky. Read more about Fomalhaut.