Khaberni - On Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Earth witnessed a small asteroid named 2025 TF passing at an incredibly close distance, estimated to be 428 kilometers (266 miles) above the Antarctic continent, a distance roughly equivalent to the orbit of the International Space Station, recording it as the second closest known pass of an asteroid to Earth without collision.
According to what was published on "New Atlas," citing data from the International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center, the asteroid passed "at precisely 00:47:26 UTC," at a moment when it nearly touched the atmosphere, and was not discovered until after it had passed Earth.
The report clarified that: "The asteroid was not discovered until after it had already left, as it was first spotted at the Kitt Peak-Puuk Observatory in Arizona at 06:36 UTC, and it later turned out that it appeared in data from the Catalina Sky Survey only two hours after the closest point it passed."
Despite its great proximity, the asteroid 2025 TF did not pose a real threat, as its size is estimated to be between one and three meters only. Writer Michael Irving commented in his report: "Even if it had collided with Earth, there was no need to worry... at most, it would have provided a beautiful light show and perhaps left a small meteorite for a penguin to find."
This close pass places asteroid 2025 TF in second place for closest asteroid passes by Earth, after asteroid 2020 VT4, which came within a distance of 368 kilometers in November 2020.
On the other hand, future estimates indicate that the asteroid may pass by Earth again in 2087, but this time from a safer distance, estimated at 8 million kilometers, which is about 21 times the distance between Earth and the moon, according to calculations by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
