Astronomers have recently identified a nearby object in space, a small asteroid known as 2025 PN7, which has been dubbed a “quasi-moon” of Earth. Instead of directly orbiting Earth, like the Moon does, this roughly 60-foot diameter asteroid actually orbits the Sun. Its orbital path is very similar to Earth’s, making it appear from our perspective to be following us, similar to two cars driving side by side on the highway. Thankfully it poses no danger to Earth and at its closest will still be around 2.5 million miles away from us, approximately 10 times the distance between the Earth and Moon.

Orbit of 2025 PN7, shown on October 25, 2025. Image via NASA.

The discovery of 2025 PN7 was announced in August of this year, when it was seen by the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii. Astronomers then realized it was visible in older observations but went unnoticed until now. Asteroids of this size, small enough to pose no threat to Earth, are incredibly difficult to detect and these older observations tell us it has been a quasi-moon for the last 60 years!

We expect 2025 PN7 to remain close enough to us to be considered a quasi-moon until the year 2083. After that. it will be tugged away by the Sun’s gravity into a horseshoe orbit, making it appear to race ahead of Earth sometimes and at other times to drift behind us. Even once we go our separate ways, Earth will still have several other quasi-moons keeping us company, like Kamo‘oalewa which is likely a piece of the Moon blasted out in an impact in the past.