Asteroid near Earth detected hours after it passed the planet
The European Space Agency said Monday that a 3- to 10-foot-wide asteroid was picked up by radar last Wednesday some 265 miles above Earth over Antarctica.
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Asteroid 2025 TF flew past Earth at an altitude similar to that of the International Space Station, but was not spotted by astronomers until hours after it was gone. (European Space Agency)
Oct. 8 (UPI) -- International space agencies say an asteroid zipped by Earth closer than a large number of satellites currently in orbit, but was not detected until hours later.
The European Space Agency said Monday that a 3- to 10-foot-wide asteroid was picked up by radar last Wednesday some 265 miles above Earth over Antarctica, near Earth's most southern point, at an altitude similar to that of the International Space Station.
"Tracking down a meter-scale object in the vast darkness of space at a time when its location is still uncertain is an impressive feat," ESA, headquartered in France with offices dotted around the European continent, said on its website.
According to NASA, astronomers at the ESA's planetary defense office failed to notice the asteroid named 2025 TF until hours later it passed by.
"This observation helped astronomers determine the close approach distance and time given above to such high precision," European officials noted.
Space satellites typically orbit at an altitude between 100 to 1,000 or more miles out.
The small space object did not pose a large danger to Earth, European space officials added.
But it did, however, have the ability to turn into a fireball of it hit Earth's atmosphere and transitioned into a meteorite.
A 2023 event saw one of the closest-ever recorded approaches by a near-Earth object.
Over the summer, America's space agency also revealed that a large asteroid had a little more than 4% probability of striking the moon by the end of 2032.
But NASA authorities said this week that asteroid 2025 TF is not likely to fly by Earth until possibly April of 2087, some 62 years from now.
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