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While scientists confirm that a small asteroid is set to orbit the Earth, a photo that purports to show the moon and a ‘mini-moon’ is digitally manipulated
Claim: A photo shows the moon and a ‘mini-moon’ clearly visible in the sky.
Rating: False
Why we fact-checked this: The post bearing the photo was uploaded by the Facebook page “Bicol News” and has garnered 2,400 reactions, 1,800 shares, and 103 comments as of writing.
The post includes a photo showing two moons in the sky. Its caption says, “Breaking!!! Earth will temporarily have two moons for two months!!”
It also includes a shortened link to a Philstar Life article about the phenomenon.
The facts: While scientists and news reports confirm that the Earth will temporarily have a second moon for two months this year due to an asteroid orbiting the planet, the photo used in the Facebook post has been digitally altered.
The original photo was taken by Johann Piber in 2020 and is free to download from the stock photos website Pexels. Contrary to the image used in the post of Bicol News, the original photo only shows one moon. A cropped photo of the moon was placed beside another to make it look like two moons are visible in the sky.
Although the asteroid 2024 PT5 will be orbiting Earth for 53 days from September 29 to November 25, this mini-moon would be too small to be seen with the naked eye as it is just 33 feet long. It would not have the same appearance as the moon, contrary to what Bicol News’ edited photo is trying to depict.
Research lead author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos told Space.com: “The object is too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars. However, the object is well within the brightness range of typical telescopes used by professional astronomers.”
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Mini-moon explained: In a study published by the American Astronomical Society, researchers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos said mini-moons occur when a near-Earth object is pulled into orbit around the Earth. This is only temporary, and the 2024 PT5 asteroid will eventually go back to its original path around the sun.
Marcos told Space.com on September 17 that the asteroid “belongs to the Arjuna asteroid belt, a secondary asteroid belt made of space rocks that follow orbits very similar to that of Earth at an average distance to the sun of about 93 million miles.”
It was discovered through the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) by researchers using an instrument in South Africa last August 7.
ATLAS is a system developed by the University of Hawaii and funded by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration that provides early warning of asteroid impact on Earth. – Angelee Kaye Abelinde/Rappler.com
Angelee Kaye Abelinde is an Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow for 2024.
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