A roughly 33-foot-long asteroid called 2024 PT5 will chart a horseshoe-like path around our planet Shi En Kim Reporter In just over one week’s time, Earth will gain a new celestial companion that will stay for two months in the planet’s gravitational ...

When approaching Earth, asteroids tend to do one of two things: Most of the time, they miss. Sometimes, they hit, leaving a bright streak in our planet’s sky or a gruesome new wound in its crust. But very rarely, asteroids are captured by Earth’s gravity and pirouette around the planet, becoming, in effect, a moon — albeit an ephemeral one.