Earth quietly picks up tiny second moons from time to time, small asteroids briefly caught by our gravity before they wander off again, which means our planet has carried far more moons than the single one most people ever notice.

Every so often, Earth picks up a second moon. Not the kind anyone notices, and never for long. A small asteroid drifting through the inner solar system passes close enough and slowly enough to be briefly caught by Earth’s gravity, sometimes looping around the planet and sometimes only lingering nearby, before slipping free again to [...] The post Earth quietly picks up tiny second moons from time to time, small asteroids briefly caught by our gravity before they wander off again, which means our