🌍 China's Tianwen-2 Reached Earth's Quasi-Moon Asteroid and Snapped Its First Close-Up
After a 400-day, 1-billion-kilometer journey, China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft arrived at near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa on July 4, and the first image was released July 6. Surprise: the asteroid appears to be only about 20 meters across — much smaller than ground-based estimates suggested. The probe plans to collect surface samples and return them to Earth in 2027. Kamoʻoalewa orbits in a gravitational dance that keeps it near Earth like a shadow — some scientists think it might be a chunk of our Moon. Is it?
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