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This 1964 photo shows a Centaur top stage rocket. The 2020 SO space object could be one of them.
NASA
The moon shouldn’t be too jealous. Earth has another satellite right now, but this is only a temporary adventure. The exact identity of the object, named 2020 SO, is still a lingering question, but you can look at it on Monday, November 30, when it gets closer to Earth. The virtual telescope project will broadcast the flyby live.
Earth’s gravitational pull captured the object in our planet’s orbit earlier this month, making 2020 SW something like a mini-moon.
Usually we expect an object like this to be an asteroid, and there are many that fly in space. But 2020 SO could have a more earthly identity. The 2020 SW orbit around the sun – which is very similar to that of Earth – convinced researchers that it is probably not a rock, but is actually a space junk of a NASA mission.
The closest approach to the object to our planet will take place on December 1. The Virtual Telescope Project will offer a live broadcast starting at 2 p.m. PT on November 30.
The founder of the Virtual Telescope Project, Gianluca Masi, already managed to capture a view of the tiny object on November 22. It appears as a point against a background of stars.
The Virtual Telescope Project previewed 2020 SO on November 22. The arrow indicates the object.
Gianluca Masi / Virtual telescope project
Scientists at NASA JPL’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) analyzed the path of 2020 SO and traced it back in time.
“One of the possible paths for 2020 therefore brought the object very close to the Earth and the Moon in late September 1966,” CNEOS director Paul Chodas said in a NASA statement earlier in November. “It was like a Eureka moment when a quick check of the lunar mission launch dates showed a match with the Surveyor 2 mission.”
NASA’s ill-fated Surveyor 2 lander ended up crashing into the surface of the moon, but the Centaur rocket thruster escaped into space.
NASA expects 2020 SO to remain in Earth orbit until March 2021, when it will stray into a new orbit around the sun. The agency’s planetary defense coordination office shared a visual of the object’s journey around the Earth.
The next close-up should give astronomers a chance to compose the composition of 2020 SO and tell us if this is indeed a relic from the 1960s.
Even with a telescope view, 2020 SO should look like a bright spot of light traveling through the darkness of space. What’s cool is having the chance to witness a piece of space history returning to its former playgrounds.
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