The space rock looks to have been captured by our planet's gravity over 60 years ago. Artist's rendering of an asteroid approaching Earth An asteroid just spotted for the first time seems to have been circling Earth for decades. NASA Our planet has a pretty permanent relationship with the moon, but occasionally Earth's gravity can also capture small asteroids that then spend a period of time orbiting us as a sort of temporary satellite. This has happened at least twice this century, with the "mini moons" hanging around for just a few years or less, but newly discovered asteroid 2022...
