{"id":798573,"date":"2025-10-02T06:56:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=798573"},"modified":"2025-10-02T06:56:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:56:32","slug":"asteroid-2025-tf-flew-just-420-km-260-miles-above-antarctica-second-closest-flyby-on-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=798573","title":{"rendered":"Asteroid 2025 TF flew just 420 km (260 miles) above Antarctica, second-closest flyby on record"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2025 TF made an extremely close approach to Earth at 00:49 UTC on October 1, reaching a nominal distance of 0.02 LD (0.00005 AU \/ 6 790 km \/ 4 220 miles) from Earth\u2019s center, or about 419 km (260 miles) above the surface over Antarctica.<\/p>\n

2025 TF is now ranked as the second-closest asteroid flyby on record, after 2020 VT4, which passed 6 746 km (4 190 miles) from Earth\u2019s center on November 13, 2020. Other exceptionally close encounters include 2024 XA at 7 726 km (4 800 miles), 2024 LH1 at 8 098 km (5 030 miles), 2024 UG9 at 8 850 km (5 500 miles), 2020 QG at 9 317 km (5 790 miles), and 2021 UA1 at 9 427 km (5 860 miles).<\/p>\n

Since January 1, 2025, observatories worldwide have detected 118 asteroids passing within 1 lunar distance of Earth, including 2025 TF. In September 2025 alone, 25 asteroids passed within 1 lunar distance of Earth.<\/p>\n

The newly-discovered object was first observed at the Kitt Peak-Bok Observatory in Arizona at 06:36 UTC on October 1, less than six hours after its closest approach.<\/p>\n

The object belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 1.2 and 2.7 m (4\u20139 feet). It flew past Earth at a relative speed of 20.9 km\/s (75 200 km\/h or 46 700 mph).<\/p>\n

Asteroid 2025 TF close approach to Earth on October 1, 2025. Credit: CNEOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Orbital calculations suggest 2025 TF follows an elongated path around the Sun, with a semi-major axis of 1.62 AU, perihelion at 0.676 AU, and aphelion at 2.56 AU. Its orbital period is about 2.06 years, with a modest inclination of 9.1\u00b0 to the ecliptic.<\/p>\n

The orbit remains poorly constrained, with current solutions based on a 1-day observation arc and a condition code of 7. Additional observations will be required to refine its trajectory and assess future encounters.<\/p>\n

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\"asteroid\"asteroid
Asteroid 2025 TF orbit diagram. Credit: CNEOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

References:<\/p>\n

1<\/sup> Asteroid 2025 TF \u2013 Minor Planet Center \u2013 Accessed on October 2, 2025<\/p>\n

2<\/sup> Asteroid 2025 TF \u2013 NASA\/CNEOS \u2013 Accessed on October 2, 2025<\/p>\n


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A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2025 TF made an extremely close approach to Earth at 00:49 UTC on October 1, reaching a nominal distance of 0.02 LD (0.00005 AU \/ 6… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":798574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-798573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=798573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/798574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=798573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=798573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=798573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}