An asteroid that orbited near Earth for a few months as a mini-moon may be a chunk of the moon that was blasted off by an impact thousands of years ago.

New research suggests that Earth's recent mini-moon might have originated as part of our actual moon long, long ago.

The small near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5 has been creating a buzz among researchers. Discovered last year with the help of a NASA-funded telescope, it is only about 33 feet across and does not pose any threat to Earth.

For a brief, but exciting, time last year, Earth had two moons. A small asteroid lingered close to our planet in its orbit around the Sun, temporarily caught by Earth’s gravity to become a far away mini-moon. A closer look at the space rock reveals a rather familiar origin: Earth’s mini-moon might actually be a broken-off piece of our regular Moon.

For a few months, Earth had a second moon — a tiny asteroid that may have been a piece of our own Moon

The asteroid is about 33 feet (10 meters) across and poses no danger to Earth. It joins another known lunar asteroid discovered in 2016 known as 469219 Kamo’oalewa. Scientists hope that as telescopes become more powerful, we will be able to detect more bits of the Moon that have been blasted free in ancient impacts.