Earth’s Quasi-Moon Kamo’oalewa Could Originate From Lunar Surface Not Asteroid Belt [Study]

Earth's "quasi-moon" was initially considered part of an asteroid belt. However, a recent study suggests that the celestial object could come from the moon.

Earth's Quasi-Moon Kamo'oalewa Could Have Originated From the Moon

A new study discovered that Kamo'oalewa, the Earth's quasi-moon, could be an object from the moon itself. It's likely that it was from a lunar surface and blasted away due to an impact from an asteroid.

It was eventually discovered that Kamo'oalewa, which translates to "an oscillating celestial object" in Hawaiian, orbits the sun in coordination with Earth and spins incredibly quickly for an asteroid. These intriguing features prompted scientists to look into the origins of the quasi-moon. According to studies conducted in 2021, Kamo'oalewa may have originated on the moon because of its composition, which is comparable to rocks found there.

"Our major findings are that Kamo'oaelewa originated from the moon, and not from the asteroid belt, contrary to the majority of asteroids belonging to the NEO population," said Patrick Michel, team member and senior researcher at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France's state research agency.

According to Michel, they developed a hypothesis for the origin of this object, starting with the impact that created the Giordano Bruno crater. They used all available information on Kamo'oalewa and the lunar surface, much like detectives would.

The crew used their investigative skills to operate like crime scene detectives to link Kamo'oalewa to the Giordano Bruno crater. They employed a computer model to simulate the kind of impact that might have created a space rock similar to this quasi-moon.

This required accounting for variables such as the ensuing ejecta's size, velocity dispersion, and dynamical evolution. With the same dynamical characteristics as Kamo'oalewa, this reconstruction showed that some ejecta will eventually enter an orbital 1:1 resonance with Earth.

"Our results tell us that Kamo'oalewa is very likely to be a fragment from the lunar surface for which we have a direct relation to a known crater if our scenario is correct," Michel said, doubling down on his previous statement.

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What Is Kamo'oalewa?

Kamo'oalewa is a small asteroid whose orbit passes over Earth. Because of how close its orbit is to Earth, NASA JPL has designated Kamo'oalewa as a "Near Earth Asteroid." Computer simulations have shown no immediate chance of a future collision despite this. Hence, it is not regarded as potentially hazardous.

Every 366 days (1.00 years), Kamo'oalewa completes one circle around the sun, traveling as close as 0.90 AU and as far as 1.10 AU. Given its brightness and light-reflecting properties, Kamo~oalewa is most likely a tiny to average asteroid, around the size of a school bus or less, with a diameter between 0.024 and 0.106 kilometers.

It has been observed that Kamo'oalewa is rotating. Every 0.47 hours, it completes a spin on its axis.

At its closest point, Kamo'oalewa's orbit is 0.03 AU from Earth's orbit. This indicates that there is always ample space between this asteroid and Earth. In the upcoming decades, the space rock will make 277 close approaches to our planet.

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Check out more news and information on the Moon in Science Times.