Tonight, As India Sleeps, Earth Will Get A 'Mini Moon'

Experts say with special telescopes one can spot the "2024 PT5"

The Earth will embrace a new and temporary 'mini moon' tonight, with a connection to India's epic Mahabharat. Called "2024 PT5" it is just about ten meters in diameter and it will remain in the Earth's orbit for about 53 days before heading back into the vastness of the solar system.

Its size, though, makes it way too small to register -- the diameter of the Moon is 3,476 kilometres.  The "2024 PT5" is 350,000 times smaller and will not be visible to the naked eye. But special telescopes could well detect it well after 1.30 am.

Any naturally orbiting body around a planet is called a moon.Planet Saturn has 146 known moons and Jupiter has 95. Mars has two moons and the Earth has just one Moon. Venus has no known moons.Experts at ISRO monitoring "2024 PT5" said it "would not collide with Earth".