When you look up at the night sky in the coming weeks, it won’t just be the stars and moon that will be above you. A mini-moon has started circling the Earth, but it’s not a permanent addition.
The Mini-Moon Was Thought to Be ‘Space Junk’
Our knowledge of the tiny temporary moon that’s been caught in our planet’s gravity first sparked on August 20, 2026, when Krisztián Sárneczky first noticed the “little space rock near Earth,” the Minor Planet Center reported in October, according to EarthSky. Named 2026 QQ8, “[i]t seems this object entered orbit around our planet back in April.”
Referred to as a mini-moon, that’s not exaggerating at all. In fact, the object is surprisingly small, only measuring around 3 feet (1 meter) in size, per EarthSky, AccuWeather also notes that it’s estimated to be 3 to 6 feet across.
That small size is perhaps one of the reasons why, “[a]t first, there was debate over whether the object was of natural origin or a piece of junk, possibly from a rocket or old satellite,” EarthSky mentions. “So astronomers took follow-up observations with the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope and the Lowell Discovery Telescope.” Due to this deeper attention, “the Minor Planet Center was able to confirm it’s not space junk,” but is of “natural origin, likely a small asteroid.”
The Mini-Moon Is Expected to Return in the Future
Although the 2026 QQ8 mini-moon is currently circling Earth, you won’t be able to see it unless you have special telescopic technology because it’s simply not big enough or bright enough to spot with the human eye.
On top of that, it is only sticking around for a little while longer. AccuWeather explains that, per NASA, the mini-moon “made its closest approach to the planet in August, passing about 333,700 miles away, beyond the moon’s average distance of roughly 239,000 miles,” and will begin “drifting away in early 2027.” However, it’s expected to make a return, with “[a]nother flyby” thought to be coming on Aug. 1, 2037, “when it will pass about 8.5 million miles from Earth.” Beyond that, EarthSky points out that “[i]n 2058 it will come close again, but also not quite close enough to regain its mini-moon status.”
In fact, the mini-moon might be a relatively regular visitor. Orbital data had revealed that 2026 QQ8 passes through our part of space every 10 years; however, doesn’t always come close enough to be captured in Earth’s orbit and, in turn, earning a place as a temporary mini-moon.
“In these other instances, the little rock does not cross into what astronomers call the Hill sphere or Hill radius. Outside of the Hill sphere, the sun dominates the motions of objects,” EarthSky explains. “But in April, 2026 QQ8 passed the Hill sphere of Earth, which is why it is temporarily bound to us.”
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