First look at Earths second moon revealed in satellite images for the first time ever

This rock star is ready for its extreme close-up.Chinese researchers have captured the first-ever close-up images of the rare “mini-moon” that’s tracing circles around the Earth.Dubbed 2016 HO3 or Kamoʻoalewa, this interstellar rolling stone is not actually one of our lunar satellites – it’s too distant for that — but rather an asteroid that’s circumnavigating the sun, Science Alert reported.However, as this space rock comes in relative close proximity to our home planet via our elliptical orbit every 45 years, astronomers consider it a “quasi-satellite” – just one of seven known to orbit Earth.

However, it is the closest at around 25.8 million miles away.First discovered around ten years ago by the Pan–STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope in Hawaii, Kamoʻoalewa was caught on camera for the first time earlier this July by the Tianwen-2 probe sent by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) mission.Accompanying photos show the jagged asteroid Tianwen-2 — which measures between 138 and 328 feet across — hurtling through the vacuum of space.“After a 400–day, one billion–kilometer (621 million–mile) journey, the Tianwen–2 probe recently made a successful encounter with asteroid 2016 HO3, reaching a distance of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the asteroid to begin scientific exploration,” the CNSA noted in a statement.“During its approach to the asteroid, the probe acquired image data.”This marks the an important milestone in the mission of the spacecraft, which launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center as part of CNSA’s first asteroid sample–return mission.Tianwen-2 didn’t make its first optical detection of Kamoʻoalewa on June 6.

Thirteen days later, it had come within 1,242 miles of our second moon.It wasn’t until earlier this month that the probe was close enough to capture the aforementioned images.

The recon craft will begin scientific exploration with the goal of conducting in-orbit observatio...