Asteroid 2024 PT5 will become a temporary satellite of  Earth for 2 months. Credit: NASA.

2024 PT5 is a near-Earth object roughly 11 metres (36 ft) in diameter discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) at the Sutherland Observatory in South Africa, on 7 August 2024.

It approached Earth the next day at 568,500 km. This object orbits the Sun, making slow, close approaches to the Earth–Moon system, it can be classified as an Aten asteroid, or Earth-crossing asteroid.

Between 29 September 2024 and 25 November 2024 it is expected to pass particularly close to Earth, approximately 0.01 AU at a low relative velocity, 0.002 km/s – 0.439 km/s, and will become temporarily captured by Earth’s gravity. Nevertheless, it will not be visible to the naked eye. Only astronomers equipped with telescopes at least 70 cm in diameter can hope to identify it.

There is no risk however of an impact with Earth, so this asteroid is not considered a risk!