CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Planet Earth is parting company with an asteroid that’s been tagging along as a “mini moon” for the past two months.
The harmless space rock will peel away on Monday, overcome by the stronger tug of the sun’s gravity. But it will zip closer for a quick visit in January.
NASA will use a radar antenna to observe the 33-foot (10-meter) asteroid then. That should deepen scientists’ understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5, quite possibly a boulder that was blasted off the moon by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.
While not technically a moon — NASA stresses it was never captured by Earth’s gravity and fully in orbit — it’s “an interesting object” worthy of study.
The astrophysicist brothers who identified the asteroid’s “mini moon behavior,” Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid, have collaborated with telescopes in the Canary Islands for hundreds of observations so far.
Currently more than 2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) away, the object is too small and faint to see without a powerful telescope. It will pass as close as 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) of Earth in January, maintaining a safe distance before it zooms farther into the solar system while orbiting the sun, not to return until 2055. That’s almost five times farther than the moon.
First spotted in August, the asteroid began its semi jog around Earth in late September, after coming under the grips of Earth’s gravity and following a horseshoe-shaped path. By the time it returns next year, it will be moving too fast — more than double its speed from September — to hang around, said Raul de la Fuente Marcos.
NASA will track the asteroid for more than a week in January using the Goldstone solar system radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert, part of the Deep Space Network.
Current data suggest that during its 2055 visit, the sun-circling asteroid will once again make a temporary and partial lap around Earth.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - A supermoon with a partial lunar eclipse rises over Lake Michigan in Chicago, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
GURGL, Austria (AP) — Olympic champion Clement Noel held on to his commanding first-run lead to take a men’s World Cup slalom Sunday for his second win in two weeks and 12th overall.
The Frenchman lost time in the final run but still finished 0.43 seconds ahead of Kristoffer Jakobsen, denying the Swedish skier what would have been his first World Cup win.
Atle Lie McGrath of Norway, who was second after the opening run, dropped to third, 0.44 behind.
Noel also won the season-opening slalom in Finland a week ago for his first World Cup victory in 22 months.
“It's for sure really, really important," Noel said when asked in a course-side TV interview about starting the season with back-to-back wins.
“We all want to be fast, we all want to win some races, but I know there is some really tough competition. So, I'm more than happy to win today.”
Noel’s French teammate Steven Amiez placed fourth for his career-best result, with his father, 1996 slalom World Cup winner Sebastien Amiez, watching from the finish area.
World champion Henrik Kristoffersen, who was runner-up to Noel last week, improved from 13th position to finish sixth.
Watched by 9,800 spectators, Noel positioned himself for the win with a dominating opening run.
The Frenchman raced flawlessly down the Kirchenkar course to build a big lead of more than eight-tenths as many racers struggled on the icy steep, with McGrath and Amiez the only racers to finish less than a second off the lead.
“It was difficult for me as well. The feeling was tough, the snow is very icy,” said Noel, who overcame some mistakes in his final run.
“The feeling was not so good for everyone, it was a real battle. In the second run, I was confident at the start, but then I had a really bad feeling ... I was not really sure that it was enough to win."
Out of the 62 starters for the first run, 18 didn't finish.
Slalom World Cup champion Manuel Feller was among the fastest starters but straddled a gate shortly after the first split time, a week after he also failed to finish the first race of the season.
Feller, who led an Austrian sweep of the podium in Gurgl last year, finished fifth or better in each slalom on his way to winning the discipline title.
Feller’s predecessor as the slalom season champion, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, and Austrian great Marcel Hirscher both straddled a gate midway through their runs as well.
Pinheiro Braathen returned to the circuit this season with two fourth-place finishes after a one-year break and a switch from the Norwegian to the Brazilian federation.
Hirscher is the record eight-time overall champion and six-time winner of the slalom globe. He came out of retirement after five years this season to start for the Netherlands. Last week he finished his opening run too far behind to qualify for the second.
German skier Linus Strasser, who won the classic races in Kitzbuehel and Schladming last season, finished the opening run outside the top 30 and didn’t qualify.
There are no men's World Cup races next weekend as the circuit travels to Beaver Creek, Colorado for a downhill, super-G and giant slalom on Dec. 6-8.
Sweden's Kristoffer Jakobsen celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
France's Clement Noel speeds down the course during the second run on his way to win an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
France's Clement Noel, center, winner of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, celebrates with second-placed Sweden's Kristoffer Jakobsen, left, and third-placed Norway's Atle Lie McGrath, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
France's Clement Noel celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
France's Clement Noel, right, celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
Austria's Manuel Feller speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
Netherland's Marcel Hirscher speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen concentrates ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
France's Clement Noel speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
France's Clement Noel starts an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
