What bends over the shoulder?

When no one is looking, a mini "moon" in the night sky has left us

. This mini "moon" is a small satellite orbiting the earth discovered by astronomers at the beginning of this year, and the related research is published in the Journal of Astronomy. Now it has drifted away, but soon, scientists may find more similar earth mini-companions.

In February this year, astronomers of the American Catalina Sky Survey System discovered a dim celestial body and named it 22CD3. When

, astronomers can't be sure whether it is a tiny satellite or an artificial object such as a fire

arrow booster. In the next few months

, Grigori Fedorets

of Queen's University Belfast and his colleagues made more measurements of this dim celestial body with astronomical telescopes all over the world, and finally determined its identity-

a small satellite orbiting the earth.

This mini "Moon" is about 1.2 meters in diameter and entered

Earth orbit about 2.7 years ago. According to the color and brightness, it may be composed of silicate rocks like many other celestial bodies in the small line

belt. In addition, the researchers tracked its orbit and tried to find out where it came from before it entered the earth orbit.