New Quasi-Moon Discovered Orbiting Near Earth, Unnoticed For 60 Years

Earth has a new quasi-moon, which is called 2025 PN7. A new paper has revealed that it has been orbiting near our planet undetected for about 60 years. According to the lead author, Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of the Complutense University of Madrid, this tiny asteroid is the "smallest and the least stable" of Earth's seven known quasi-moons.

What is a Quasi-Moon?

Quasi-moons aren't traditional moons; they don't orbit Earth directly. Instead, they follow an orbit around the Sun that is synchronised with Earth's, creating the illusion they're accompanying our planet.

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What do we know about 2025 PN7?

It is approximately 62 feet (19 metres) in diameter, which means it is quite small; however, it's bright enough to be spotted by using a high-quality telescope only. This quasi-Moon follows an Earth-like path around the Sun, staying between 2.8 million and 37 million miles from Earth.

The study mentioned that this quasi-moon likely remained unnoticed for six decades because of its faintness and limited visibility. It is expected to stay in the current pattern for another 60 years.

"It is small, faint, and its visibility windows from Earth are rather unfavorable, so it is not surprising that it went unnoticed for that long," de la Fuente Marcos said.

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According to Live Science, 2025 PN7 was introduced for the first time by French journalist Adrien Coffinet on August 30. "2025 PN7 seems to be a quasi-satellite of the Earth for the next 60 years," Coffinet, who posted the details and calculation on the Minor Planet Mailing List, wrote.

The findings of the discovery of 2025 PN7 were published in the journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) on September 2.