Earth will have a temporary ‘mini moon’ for two months
WASHINGTON: Earth’s moon will soon have some company — a “mini moon.”
The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 33 feet (10 meters). When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe — but only for about two months.
The space rock — 2024 PT5 — was first spotted in August by astronomers at Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa.
These short-lived mini moons are likely more common than we realize, said Richard Binzel, an astronomer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The last known one was detected in 2020.
“This happens with some frequency, but we rarely see them because they’re very small and very hard to detect,” he said. “Only recently has our survey capability reached the point of spotting them routinely.”
The discovery by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos was published by the American Astronomical Society.
This one won’t be visible to the naked eye or through amateur telescopes, but it “can be observed with relatively large, research-grade telescopes,” Carlos de la Fuente Marcos said in an email.
Binzel, who was not involved in the research, said it’s not clear whether the space rock originated as an asteroid or as “a chunk of the moon that got blasted out.”
The mini moon will circle the globe for almost 57 days but won’t complete a full orbit. On Nov. 25, it will part ways with the Earth and continue its solo trajectory through the cosmos. It’s expected to pass by again in 2055.
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Karnataka govt tables Rs 14,767 cr supplementary estimates in assembly
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government on Monday tabled the supplementary estimates in the assembly, totalling Rs 14,767 crore of additional expenditure for the current fiscal.
Tabled by Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on behalf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, supplementary estimates are additional expenditures incurred by the government over and above the budget provisions.
In the fiscal ending March, additional expenditures include Rs 147 crore on the Sadhana Samavesha to mark two years of the Congress government and Rs 223 crore for railway barricading to prevent human-elephant conflict.
As per the supplementary estimates, the government spent Rs 1.25 crore to purchase a Volvo XC90 for former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.
It also includes -- Rs 1,025 crore to clear various irrigation works bills, Rs 15 crore for helicopter and air travels by Governor, CM, ministers and other VIPs, Rs 110 crore towards scholarship and tuition fee reimbursement for minority students, Rs 15 crore for development of various temples, maths and trusts.
The government also spent Rs 1.4 crore to print a book comprising 'selected' speeches of Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, Rs 50 lakh to clear pending electricity and water bills of ministers' residences, Rs 10 crore towards rehabilitation of families affected by landslides at Meppadi in Wayanad, Kerala.
Rs 5 crore each for Brahmin Development Board and Arya-Vysya Development Corporation, Rs 60 lakh to Supreme Court senior advocate Kapil Sibal for two appearances representing the government, Rs 5.13 crore towards bills from the Belagavi winter session of the legislature, Rs 5.5 crore towards pending bills from the 2019 and 2021 Assembly bypolls and the upcoming Davangere South and Bagalkot bypolls, are among the expenditures incurred.
