Astronomers have confirmed that a small object temporarily captured by Earth's orbit is the Centaur upper-stage rocket booster that helped lift NASA's ill-fated Surveyor 2 spacecraft toward the moon in 1966. The object, designated 2020 SO, was initially detected by the Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System, which monitors near-Earth objects such as asteroids that might pose a threat to Earth. Upon closer examination, scientists at the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) realized that this was no ordinary asteroid. Typically, the orbit of an asteroid is more elongated and tilted relative to Earth's orbit. However, before 2020 SO was captured by this planet's gravity, it was orbiting around the sun in a near circle and in an orbital plane that almost matched Earth's. Adding to the mystery, the trajectory of 2020 SO was changing slightly in response to getting pushed by the solar wind, suggesting it was likely hollow.
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