The asteroid designated 2025 TF made an extremely close pass by Earth recently.
When: It passed by on October 1, 2025, at approximately 00:49 UTC.
How Close: It flew only about 428 kilometers (266 miles) above Earth’s surface, over Antarctica. This altitude is comparable to the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) and makes it one of the closest non-impacting asteroid flybys ever recorded.
Size and Danger: The asteroid was quite small, estimated to be only about 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet) in diameter. Objects of this size generally pose no significant danger, as they would likely burn up or explode high in the atmosphere if they were on an impact trajectory, creating a spectacular fireball.
Discovery: Notably, 2025 TF was discovered hours after its closest approach to Earth, highlighting the challenges of detecting small, fast-moving objects in space.
2025 TF, previously known as C15KM95, is a meter-sized near-Earth asteroid that passed 409 ± 14 km (254 ± 9 mi) over the surface of Earth’s South Pole (Antarctica) on 1 October 2025 00:49 UTC, at a relative speed of 20.9 km/s (13.0 mi/s). It is the second-closest asteroid flyby of Earth recorded as of 2025, after 2020 VT4. 2025 TF was discovered on 1 October 2025 06:36 UTC by astronomers using the Bok Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, less than 6 hours after the asteroid’s closest approach to Earth.
