Earth has captured a new mini moon — but it won't stick around for long
Earth has caught itself a new mini-moon, and QQ8 is sticking around for Christmas.
In October 2026, Earth captured a new mini-moon named 2026 QQ8, which will continue to orbit our planet until December 2026 and break free in 2027. The space rock, observed in August 2026, was reported by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center. QQ8 orbits the sun in 359 days, almost one Earth year, and approaches Earth around once every decade.
During its current stay, the mini-moon will come as close as 353,000 miles (568,000 km) to our planet, about 110,000 miles (177,000 km) farther than the average distance between Earth and the moon. Despite its proximity, QQ8 is expected to disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere before reaching the surface, as it measures only about 6 feet (2 meters) in diameter.
This is not the first time Earth has acquired a temporary satellite, with research suggesting our planet may have up to six mini-moons at any given time, most being fragments of the moon.
Written by urgent.news from Space.com's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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