Occasionally, asteroids get caught in Earth’s orbit, temporarily becoming mini moons before continuing their cosmic paths.

Asteroid 2024 PT5, which almost became a temporary mini-moon to Earth, was recently found to be a broken-off part of the moon itself.

Before concluding that 2024 PT5 was a fragment of the Moon, scientists needed to rule out the possibility that it was simply space debris, such as an old rocket part or a piece of human-made material.

An asteroid that orbited near Earth for a few months as a mini-moon may be a chunk of the moon that was blasted off by an impact thousands of years ago.

An artist’s concept of an asteroid like the small near-Earth object 2024 PT5, whose orbit around the sun closely matches that of our planet and led to it being called a “mini-moon.” NASA/JPL ...

The study deepened scientists’ understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5, quite possibly a boulder blasted off the moon by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.

He was also integral in the study of 2024 PT5 during its time around Earth which revealed that the mini-moon was likely created when an impact dislodged a boulder from the moon.

Unlike the moon, this "mini-moon" was never expected to stick around. The mini-moon is officially known as asteroid 2024 PT5.

In late September, 2024 PT5 would come within mini-moon range, or 2.8 million miles (4.5 million kilometers) from Earth, at about 2,200 miles per hour (3,540 kilometers per hour).

Earth Bids Goodbye to Its ‘Mini-Moon’ as Astronomers Investigate Where Our Planet’s Asteroid Companion Came From Preliminary research suggests asteroid 2024 PT5, which stuck around Earth for ...

Asteroid 2024 PT5, the “mini moon” that has been tagging along in Earth’s orbit for the past couple of months, is already departing on Monday. (Shutterstock) ...

NASA said 2024 PT5 does not qualify as a "mini-moon" because it was never captured by Earth's gravity and remained more of a "distant companion of our planet" rather than a satellite.