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4h ago

Asteroid 2025 QD8 to Pass 136,000 Miles From Earth Wednesday as Smaller 2025 QV5 Follows at a Safer Distance

Agencies report no impact risk, with telescopes using the approach for live observations to refine the objects' orbits.

© Gianluca Masi/The Virtual telescope Project 2.0
A stock image illustration of an asteroid approaching Earth, with an inset stock image of an airplane in the sky.
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Overview

  • NASA/JPL projects 2025 QD8 will pass about 136,000 miles (218,000 kilometers) from Earth at 10:57 a.m. ET on Sept. 3, roughly 57% of the Earth–Moon distance.
  • QD8 is estimated at 17–38 meters across based on reflected light and will be moving about 28,000 mph relative to Earth, with size uncertainty due to unknown surface reflectivity.
  • ESA notes QD8 likely made close approaches in 1958, 1976, 1994, and 2007, and this will be its closest pass for roughly a century.
  • A separate object, 2025 QV5, about 11 meters wide, will pass at roughly 500,000 miles on Sept. 3 and is not expected to come this close again for about 100 years.
  • The Virtual Telescope Project is livestreaming the encounter and NASA has listed QV5 for Goldstone radar study, adding observations to improve orbital solutions and physical characterization.