A week ago, an asteroid flew so close to Earth that it nearly broke the record for the closest approach to an asteroid ever.
This cosmic surprise came to the attention of astronomers on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, when the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona discovered an asteroid called 2025 TF a few hours after it flew past Earth. Flying over Antarctica, the asteroid passed just 428 kilometers (266 miles) from the Earth's surface. For reference, the International Space Station orbits our planet at the same altitude, approximately 370 to 460 km (254 miles).
Asteroid 2025 TF may have only been a near miss, but keeping an eye on near-Earth objects like these—even if most of them miss Earth—is a never-ending responsibility for astronomers.
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Flyby of asteroid 2025 TF
While it may seem like we narrowly escaped the fate seen in many blockbuster disaster movies, the 2025 TF never posed any danger to Earth. The asteroid is 1 to 3 meters (3.3 to 9.8 feet) wide, meaning that at best it would create a fireball in the sky if it came close to Earth.
Asteroids those smaller than 25 meters (82 ft) typically burn up when they enter the Earth's atmosphere. However, there is always a chance that these asteroids could fragment and scatter meteorites across the surface.
One example of this scenario occurred in February 2023, when a small asteroid called 2023 сх1 (just under a meter or 3 feet in diameter) broke up over the coast of Normandy, France. Astronomers were quick to spot the asteroid, spotting it 7 hours before it entered Earth's atmosphere. It became the seventh asteroid ever to be successfully detected before colliding with a planet.
When the asteroid caught fire in the atmosphere, it produced a bright double flash. It then fractured violently, releasing 98 percent of its kinetic energy in the blink of an eye and scattering more than a hundred meteorite fragments across Normandy.
As intense as it sounds, most smaller asteroids don't cause much damage if they enter Earth's atmosphere. Even if TF 2025 approached Earth, it would not be a disaster for us.
Two closest approaches of an asteroid
The 2025 TF passed Earth at an altitude much lower than many satellites—low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, for example, are located between 160 and 2,000 km above the surface. The result was the second-largest non-impact asteroid approach ever observed. The only asteroid that has been recorded at closer range is 2020 VT4, which passed 370 km (230 miles) above Earth's surface in November 2020.
The 2020 VT4 is slightly larger than the 2025 TF, measuring 5 to 10 meters (16 to 32 ft) in diameter. However, even at this size, 2020 VT4 would likely disintegrate if it entered Earth's atmosphere.
Keeping an eye on the asteroids
2025 TF was not the only asteroid to approach Earth in the first week of October. On Thursday, October 2, astronomers at Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona observed another asteroid, 2025 TQ2, passing over Canada at an altitude of 4,851 km (3,014 miles).
Astronomers track many asteroids and other near-Earth objects (NEOs) every month because close approaches to them are relatively common. Unlike 2025 TF, some of the other asteroids approaching Earth are much larger, although not as close. In July 2025 asteroid the size of an airplane (2025 OW) passed at a distance of 393,000 miles from Earth, and in September 2025 Asteroid the size of a skyscraper (2025 FA22) passed within 520,000 miles of Earth. Fortunately, none of them were considered dangerous.
As for the 2025 TF, it will not return to the outskirts of Earth until its next close approach in April 2087, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Read more: An airplane-sized asteroid will fly past Earth next week, saving us from impact
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