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Although the Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, there are a number of near-Earth objects (NEOs) with orbits that are in resonance with Earth. These have been called "second" moons of Earth or "minimoons". [2] [3] 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, an asteroid discovered on 27 April 2016, is possibly the most stable quasi-satellite of Earth. [4]
Some 4.5 billion years ago, when Earth was only 100 million years old or so, a Mars-sized protoplanet named Theia smashed into our planet, ejecting loads that eventually returned to the Earth’s ...
Makemake has one moon, discovered in April 2016. A number of other objects in the Kuiper belt and scattered disk may turn out to be dwarf planets. Orcus, Quaoar, Gonggong, and Sedna are generally agreed to be dwarf planets among astronomers, and all but Sedna are known to have moons. [9]
By one estimate, the solar wind has deposited more than 1 million tons of helium-3 (3 He) on the Moon's surface. [62] Materials on the Moon's surface contain helium-3 at concentrations estimated between 1.4 and 15 parts per billion (ppb) in sunlit areas, [1] [63] [64] and may contain concentrations as much as 50 ppb in permanently shadowed ...
Earth is getting a temporary second "mini moon," a.k.a. the 2024 PT5 asteroid. Here's how you can see it and if it will affect your astrological star sign.
The ages of the mare basalts have been determined both by direct radiometric dating and by the technique of crater counting.The radiometric ages range from about 3.16 to 4.2 billion years old (Ga), [4] whereas the youngest ages determined from crater counting are about 1.2 Ga. [5] Updated measurements of samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission show that some lunar basalts could be as ...
An exomoon or extrasolar moon is a natural satellite that orbits an exoplanet or other non-stellar extrasolar body. [2] Exomoons are difficult to detect and confirm using current techniques, [3] and to date there have been no confirmed exomoon detections. [4] However, observations from missions such as Kepler have observed a number of candidates.
Scientists have long suspected that the moon may have a metallic iron core. In 2015, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted ribbons of aurorae circling the moon—a discovery that surprised researchers.