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New 'quasi-moon' discovered in Earth orbit may have been hiding there for decades
Space > Astronomy
New 'quasi-moon' discovered in Earth orbit may have been hiding there for decades
News
By Elizabeth Howell published September 12, 2025
A near-Earth asteroid lurked undetected for decades until a telescope in Hawaii spotted it earlier this year. It may be Earth's newest quasi-moon.
An illustration of an asteroid orbiting the sun alongside Earth, much like the potential new quasi-moon. (Image credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo)
A new paper describes another possible "quasi-moon" of Earth, and the interloping asteroid may have been following our planet around for decades, undetected.
Quasi-moons, the Planetary Society states, are “like a gravitational sleight of hand.” They are asteroids, which — from our point of view on Earth — appear to be orbiting our planet like our permanent moon does. However, they actually orbit the sun, only temporarily moving through the solar system alongside our planet.
If the status of the newly detected asteroid, called 2025 PN7, is confirmed, it would not be the only object seemingly behaving as a moon of Earth; there are seven other known quasi-moons in Earth-like orbits, and they are "full of surprises," said study co-author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of the Complutense University of Madrid.
{snip}
New 'quasi-moon' discovered in Earth orbit may have been hiding there for decades
News
By Elizabeth Howell published September 12, 2025
A near-Earth asteroid lurked undetected for decades until a telescope in Hawaii spotted it earlier this year. It may be Earth's newest quasi-moon.
An illustration of an asteroid orbiting the sun alongside Earth, much like the potential new quasi-moon. (Image credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo)
A new paper describes another possible "quasi-moon" of Earth, and the interloping asteroid may have been following our planet around for decades, undetected.
Quasi-moons, the Planetary Society states, are “like a gravitational sleight of hand.” They are asteroids, which — from our point of view on Earth — appear to be orbiting our planet like our permanent moon does. However, they actually orbit the sun, only temporarily moving through the solar system alongside our planet.
If the status of the newly detected asteroid, called 2025 PN7, is confirmed, it would not be the only object seemingly behaving as a moon of Earth; there are seven other known quasi-moons in Earth-like orbits, and they are "full of surprises," said study co-author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of the Complutense University of Madrid.
{snip}