Did You Know: Earth Has Two Moons—One Real, One Hidden, Orbiting Since 60 Million Years Ago?
Since 2018, astronomers have confirmed the existence of a small celestial object approximately **70 meters** in diameter, named 2020 CD3, which periodically becomes gravitationally trapped in Earth’s orbit as a 'temporary moon'. Even more surprising is the discovery of another object—2006 RH120—which orbited Earth for a full **18 months** during 2006–2007. Neither is an ordinary asteroid, but rather a 'minimoon'—a temporary natural satellite captured by Earth’s gravity due to complex gravitational interactions among Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. This phenomenon is not speculative theory, but a verified reality of orbital dynamics, confirmed through N-body simulations and telescopic observations at the Mount Lemmon Observatory and Pan-STARRS in Hawaii.