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Asteroid Passes Closer Than Moon Just 2 Days After Discovery
Asteroid 2025 TF, measuring 1 to 3 meters, passed within 428 kilometers above Earth, marking the second closest recorded flyby without impact, astronomers said.
- On October 1, 2025, asteroid 2025 TF passed over Antarctica at 00:47:26 UTC, coming within 428 km of Earth's surface in the second-closest recorded approach after 2020 VT4.
- Catalina Sky Survey astronomers in Arizona only noticed the rock after passage, spotting 2025 TF a few hours post-flyby, and ESA's Planetary Defence Office soon observed it with the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope.
- Measured at 1 to 3 meters across, 2025 TF was classified as small, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said it would at most create a fireball with no risk to spacecraft like the ISS.
- Scientists said 2025 TF posed no threat, and ESA and NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office noted the encounter helped test near‑Earth object monitoring programs.
- As small asteroids pass regularly, teams use each encounter to refine systems, with monthly close approaches including one earlier this October skimming International Space Station altitude.
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20 Articles
Asteroid narrowly avoids Earth after whizzing past unnoticed
The Earth narrowly avoided being hit by an asteroid that was the size of a car – but the worrying part is that it went unnoticed by astronomers. The asteroid came as close to the Earth’s surface as the International Space Station (ISS), the European Space Agency (ESA) has claimed (Picture: Getty) The asteroid, dubbed as 2025 TF, flew over Antarctica just after midnight UTC on October 1. They say that 2025 TF is roughly one to three meters …
The 2025 TF was discovered a few hours after its approach to Earth, passing over Antarctica on October 1.It was at the same altitude as the usual orbit of the International Space Station.
Tiny asteroid flew right over Antarctica, and no one saw it coming
Asteroid 2025 TF zipped past Earth above Antarctica, coming within 428 km of the surface. Roughly the size of a small car, it was detected hours after the flyby and posed no danger. ESA astronomers later confirmed its trajectory with extraordinary accuracy.
A small asteroid, discovered only hours after the passage, touched the Earth on October 1st at only 428 km of altitude. No danger, but the episode highlights the limits in the detection systems
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