What is Mini Moon Arjun:
When people in India will be sleeping tonight, ‘Arjun’ will arrive on Earth. Actually ‘Arjun’ is a mini-moon, which is scientifically known as “2024 PT5”. The tiny moon, about 10 meters wide, will enter Earth’s orbit tonight and then after 53 days of wandering, will return to the vastness of the solar system. The surprising thing is that this tiny moon has been named ‘Arjun’ by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), but why has it named it so? Is it a symbol of India’s growing space power in the world or is there some other reason? Let us give you some details about it.
According to astronomers, anybody that naturally revolves around a planet is called a moon. Saturn has 146 known moons, while Jupiter has a total of 95 known moons. Mars has two and Earth has only one moon. Venus has no known moons. The diameter of Earth’s moon is 3,476 kilometers. Whereas the size of ‘Arjuna’ i.e. “2024 PT5” is just 10 meters in diameter, i.e. 350,000 times smaller than that.
You can see Mini Moon only with special telescopes
According to ISRO scientists, this tiny moon is so small that it cannot be seen with naked eyes or amateur telescopes. For this, a telescope of at least 30 inches in diameter and a CCD or CMOS detector will be needed. These special telescopes will also be able to detect this mini-moon after 1.30 am late night. According to ISRO scientists monitoring Arjun, this moon will not collide with the Earth and will go away after roaming in its orbit for about 2 months.
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It will depart from Earth on November 25
According to the US website space.com, two scientists named Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos have given their report in detail about this small moon. Marcos said that on August 7, 2024, through an Asteroid Last Alert System “2024 PT 5” was discovered. This system is run by NASA. After entering the Earth’s orbit today, Arjun will depart on November 25, 2024. ISRO’s Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) is also keeping an eye on this small satellite.
How was Arjun (Mini Moon) named?
Marcos said that this is not the first time that mini-moons have been seen around the Earth. Earlier, something similar was seen in the years 1997, 2013, and 2018. He also revealed the secret of naming this tiny moon as Arjun. He said that Arjun was a great archer and no one was capable of withstanding his fiery arrows. This mini moon also has the same speed. Therefore, the International Astronomical Union has approved ISRO’s proposal and named it Arjun.
