Does the Earth actually have two moons?

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For decades, Earth has had a satellite—or, depending on whether you perceive it as a more sinister presence, a stalker—hovering around unbeknownst to most people.

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Following reports of Earth's supposed second moon, experts over the years have discovered a number of celestial objects they call “quasi-moons.”

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Scientists at the University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS Observatory first discovered this in August, according to a recent study recently published in the journal AAS Research Notes.

Quasi-moons are actually small asteroids that “enter into a kind of resonance with the Earth's orbit, although they do not technically orbit the Earth,” the study authors note.

The new quasi-moon, which they named “2025 PN7”, was part of a small group of asteroids also known as “Arjunas”.

Astronomers analyzed orbital data, compared it with other Arjunas, and determined that 2025 PN7 will remain here until 2028, after which it will eventually return to outer space.

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HOW BIG IS 2025 PN7, THE NEWEST QUASI-MOON?

This new quasi-moon is “small, faint, and the visibility windows from Earth are quite unfavorable, so it is not surprising that it went undetected for so long,” said study co-author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of the Complutense University of Madrid.

Unlike the Moon we know, which is 2,159 miles wide and about 239,000 miles away, according to NASA2025 PN7 has been described as the “smallest and least stable” of the six quasi-satellites in Earth-like orbits, measuring just 19 meters wide.

In fact, to see 2025 PN7, you'll need the right telescope.

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HOW DOES 2025 PN7 COMPARE WITH OTHERS?

Scientists have known about quasi-satellites since 1991, when they first discovered 1991 VG, which some thought was an interstellar probe at the time, Pan-STARRS astronomers noted in their study.

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“More than three decades later, it is now widely accepted that such objects are natural and represent a secondary asteroid belt occupying the region in which the Earth-Moon system orbits the Sun, defining the Arjuna dynamic class,” the study authors explained.

“Arjuns with orbits most similar to Earth's could temporarily hijack themselves as mini-moons of our planet.”

More than 60 years later, while it may seem like 2025 PN7 has been around for a while, it is actually relatively short compared to Kamo'oaleva, another famous quasi-moon that orbits the Sun for more than 381 years.

HOW DANGEROUS IS THIS ASTEROID FOR EARTH?

There are millions of asteroids in the solar system, but only a few of them come close to Earth, and even fewer pose a risk of collision with our planet.

“Quasimoons and minimoons are part of our neighborhood in space, and they carry information about where they came from,” experts from Planetary Society they said.

Quasi-moons like 2025 PN7 are not dangerous at all; Scientists actually welcome the presence of benign asteroids near Earth, as they can help researchers learn more about the evolution of the inner solar system and how asteroids could potentially threaten our planet.

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