John Wheeler is Chief Meteorologist for WDAY, a position he has had since May of 1985. Wheeler grew up in the South, in Louisiana and Alabama, and cites his family's move to the Midwest as important to developing his fascination with weather and climate.

An asteroid heading towards Earth is set to have an unusual fate: instead of smashing through our planet’s atmosphere, it’s likely to become trapped in orbit and become a mini-moon. It will be a swift visit,

An newly discovered asteroid will be captured by Earth's gravity this fall. The "mini-moon" will spend about two months in Earth's orbit, before being flung back on its normal path around the sun.

The mini-moon is Asteroid 2024 PT5, which was discovered in August. In an article published by the American Astronomical Society, researchers Carlos de La Fuente Marcos and Raul de La Fuente Marcos said the asteroid will be temporarily captured by the Earth's orbit from Sept. 29 until Nov. 25.

PT5 will orbit Earth briefly from September 29 to November 25, 2024, acting as a mini moon. It was discovered in August 2024 and will travel in a semi-orbit around Earth before returning to its sun-centered orbit.

"The object that is going to pay us a visit belongs to the Arjuna asteroid belt, a secondary asteroid belt made of space rocks that follow orbits very similar to that of Earth at an average distance to the sun of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers),