An asteroid was noticed whizzing previous Earth final week within the second closest strategy to the planet ever recorded, in line with authorities.
Asteroid 2025 TF soared over Antarctica simply earlier than 9 p.m. final Tuesday, roughly 266 miles above Earth's floor, the European Space Agency stated in an announcement Monday.
“This can be a related altitude to the orbit of the Worldwide House Station, and one of many closest approaches ever recorded,” the company wrote on X.
The asteroid, which was roughly 3 to 10 toes throughout, was first noticed by the Catalina Sky Survey primarily based on the College of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson, astronomers stated.
“Objects of this dimension pose no vital hazard,” the ESA wrote.
“They'll produce fireballs in the event that they strike Earth's ambiance, and should outcome within the discovery of small meteorites on the ground,” the company added.
Astronomers at ESA's Planetary Defence Workplace situated the asteroid shortly after it was found utilizing the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope in Siding Spring, Australia, authorities stated.
“Monitoring down a metre-scale object within the huge darkness of area at a time when its location continues to be unsure is a formidable feat,” the ESA stated.
“This remark helped astronomers decide the shut strategy distance and time given above to such excessive precision.”
The slender miss comes almost 5 years after asteroid 2020 VT4 roared previous the ocean close to French Polynesia, roughly 230 miles from Earth's floor.
On Nov. 14, 2020, the asteroid made a ” remarkably shut miss” and “will most likely maintain the file of the closest non-impacting asteroid for a very long time,” the Close to Earth Objects Coordination Middle wrote at the time.
