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Earth has a new moon - or at least a 'quasi-moon', a new study has revealed. A quasi-moon is a space rock that circles the Earth, but is gravitationally bound by the sun. This quasi-moon, called 2023 FW13, was discovered by experts using the Pan-STARRS telescope at the top of the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii, and is one of a handful of known quasi-moons. Experts think the ancient cosmic companion has been in Earth's vicinity since 100 BC and will keep circling our planet for at least another 1,500 years, until AD 3700. Thankfully, neither 2023 FW13 or a similar...

Wednesday, 24 July, 2002, 02:29 GMT 03:29 UK Space rock 'on collision course'   An asteroid could devastate Earth       By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor An asteroid discovered just weeks ago has become the most threatening object yet detected in space. A preliminary orbit suggests that 2002 NT7 is on an impact course with Earth and could strike the planet on 1 February, 2019 - although the uncertainties are large. Astronomers have given the object a rating on the so-called Palermo technical scale of threat of 0.06, making NT7 the first object to...

Space rock may solve death of mythic emperor April 09 2002 at 09:59AM Beijing - A 5 000-year-old meteorite unearthed in north-western China may explain the legendary death of the man celebrated as the nation's earliest ancestor, the Yellow Emperor, state media said on Tuesday. The official China Daily said the meteorite, found near a mausoleum for the Yellow Emperor in the Shaanxi province county of Huangling, may lie behind the cataclysmic shattering of land that historical records say killed China's enigmatic first emperor. The discovery also sheds light on a local legend that nine dragons broke up the ancient...