A little space rock with strange origins

State of play: A new study in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment suggests the object Kamo'oalewa has properties that indicate it could actually be a piece of the Moon that broke off and orbits the Sun while remaining near Earth.

• Originally, scientists thought Kamo'oalewa, which was discovered in 2016, was an asteroid captured by Earth's gravity at some point in the past, but this new data suggests otherwise.
• The team used a telescope to put together a spectrum — the reflected light — from the space rock's surface and matched it to Moon rocks, which look very similar.
• "This spring, we got much needed follow-up observations and went, 'Wow, it is real,'" Ben Sharkey, an author of the study, said in a statement. "It's easier to explain with the Moon than other ideas."

The big question: How did Kamo'oalewa break off from the Moon and form?

• Scientists don't yet have an answer to that question, but it's possible a meteor impact cleaved some material from the Moon, allowing it to form the Ferris wheel-sized object.