Overview
- On October 1, the asteroid designated 2025 TF passed about 428 kilometers above Earth over Antarctica, roughly the altitude of the International Space Station.
- It was reported after the flyby: initial notice came from Kitt Peak-Bok, definitive detections were found in Catalina Sky Survey data, and ESA followed up using a Las Cumbres telescope at Siding Spring.
- Size estimates place the object at 1 to 3 meters in diameter, a range that would typically burn up in the atmosphere and at most produce a bright fireball.
- The encounter is logged as the second-closest recorded non-impact, trailing the 2020 VT4 pass that came even nearer in 2020.
- JPL projections show no comparable approach until April 2087 at roughly 8 million kilometers, while NASA updated its NEO database entry without issuing a statement during an agency shutdown.