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Tiny Asteroid 2025 TF Slipped Past Earth at ISS Altitude Before Detection

Scientists say the meter-scale object posed no danger, with the next distant pass expected in 2087.

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.