A small asteroid named '2024 PT5' is set to orbit Earth from late September to late November 2024.

Discovered on August 7, this asteroid was identified using the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), a NASA-funded initiative with telescopes located in Hawaii, Chile, and South Africa.

Astrophysicist Federica Spoto from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics described the upcoming capture of 2024 PT5 as 'pretty cool'.

Mini-moon events, like the one involving 2024 PT5, can be categorized into long episodes lasting years and short engagements that last weeks or months.

Due to its size and distance, 2024 PT5 is unlikely to be visible to the naked eye, but NASA offers a virtual asteroid tracker for real-time monitoring.

NASA has increased its focus on asteroid threats in recent years, recognizing that these celestial bodies are remnants from the solar system's formation approximately 4.6 billion years ago.

In 2023, NASA allocated $90 million for near-Earth object detection efforts, supporting projects like the Sutter Ultra and the NEOsurveyor infrared telescope.

Monitoring of asteroids has intensified since the 1990s, with telescopes being utilized to observe and track moving objects in the night sky.

The alert regarding 2024 PT5 also includes four additional asteroids, three of which are house-sized and one building-sized.

It is relatively rare for asteroids to come close to Earth, as most pass by at a distance, with few entering the atmosphere or causing impact craters.

The case of 2024 PT5 exemplifies the importance of global collaboration in accurately tracking small asteroids.

A mini-moon is defined as an object caught in Earth's orbit due to its gravitational pull, similar to how satellites operate.