A small asteroid recently zoomed past Earth, closer than most satellites. It flew by at about 265 miles above Antarctica on September 30. Astronomers only noticed it hours later.
This asteroid, named 2025 TF, is about the size of a giraffe, measuring between 3.3 to 9.8 feet wide. While it posed no real threat to Earth, it could have become a bright fireball if it had entered our atmosphere. Luckily, it passed when no spacecraft were near, avoiding any potential harm to them.
Space agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) keep a watchful eye on thousands of near-Earth objects. Currently, there’s no major threat to our planet for at least the next 100 years. For an asteroid to be deemed “potentially hazardous,” it must be at least 460 feet in diameter and come within 4.65 million miles of Earth. 2025 TF is significantly smaller and missed detection likely due to its size.
ESA scientists spotted the asteroid shortly after its flyby. NASA has updated its records, but no announcements were made due to a U.S. government shutdown. The asteroid won’t be back around Earth until April 2087.
Interestingly, this near-miss isn’t the only exciting cosmic event happening this week. The Draconid meteor shower peaks on October 8, although the bright light from a full moon may hide some of the shooting stars. Nonetheless, fireballs from this annual meteor shower, which comes from debris of the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, are still expected.
Asteroid 2025 TF serves as a reminder of how vital monitoring near-Earth objects is for our safety. As technology improves, we may become better at spotting these small asteroids before they surprise us. Keeping track of space rocks like this could help us prevent future threats to our planet.
For more insight on tracking near-Earth objects, you can read reports from the NASA Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
