On December 1, 2020 SO made an"extremely close" approach to Earth, astronomer Gianluca Masi from the Virtual Telescope Project previously told, coming within 31,605 miles of our planet—equivalent to around 13 percent of the average Earth-moon distance.
On February 1, the object will make another very close approach—albeit slightly further than the last one, coming within around 139,500 miles of our planet. It will be a mini-moon of our planet until March when it will leave our planet's gravitational grasp, according to Masi. "After its extremely close fly-by last December, 2020 SO is safely coming very close again, this time to say farewell," Masi wrote on the Virtual Telescope Project website.
"As we know, it is the booster of the Surveyor 2 space mission, which was temporarily captured by our planet. Soon, this artificialIf you would like to watch the object, which is estimated to measure around 33 feet long, as it makes its final close approach, Masi will be hosting a live stream of the event on theThe Surveyor 2 mission launched on September 20, 1966, with the aim of studying the lunar surface.
On November 8, 2020 SO was captured by Earth's gravity and calculations show it will remain in orbit around our planet as a temporary satellite until March 7, 2021 before it escapes back into a new orbit around the sun.
It's space junk, not unlike the 500 billion other pieces of space junk orbiting the planet.
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