The Moon is not the only natural object traveling through space alongside Earth. Several small asteroids travel around the Sun in near lockstep with our planet. And just like Earth, these space rocks also take a year to complete a full orbit. Today, we know of eight such “quasi-moons” or quasi-satellites.

One of them may, in fact, be a fragment of the Moon itself.

This intriguing quasi-satellite is known as 469219 Kamo’oalewa or “oscillating celestial object” in Hawaiian, a nod to its apparent path across the sky. Measuring between 30 and 60 meters across, it follows a remarkably stable Earth-like orbit around the Sun.

But scientists are keen to explore the asteroid in detail for other reasons than its unusual orbit. A Chinese spacecraft is about to fetch a sample so we can learn more.

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