Miscellanea

1. SCIENCE

#NASA Says Earth Has a New 'Quasi-Moon' Shadowing Our Orbit Until 2083

Key Points:

• 2025 PN7 is a small asteroid that has been traveling alongside Earth for roughly six decades.
• A quasi-moon is an object that orbits the Sun but moves almost exactly in sync with Earth's orbit.
• Researchers say the asteroid poses no threat to Earth and offers a unique opportunity to study near-Earth object dynamics.

2025 PN7 is a newly discovered mini asteroid, behaving like a 'quasi-moon' as it orbits the Sun in sync with Earth. First spotted by the University of Hawaii on August 2, 2025, and confirmed by researchers in September, it has likely been accompanying Earth for about 60 years. Measuring between 18 and 36 meters in diameter, it comes within 4 million kilometers of Earth at its closest approach.

Unlike our Moon, which is gravitationally bound to Earth, 2025 PN7's orbit closely matches Earth's, allowing it to effectively shadow our planet. It is part of the Arjuna class of near-Earth objects and is expected to remain in this configuration until around 2083. While it poses no threat to Earth, its discovery provides