Newly discovered asteroid soars past Earth in one of the ‘closest approaches ever recorded’

An asteroid was spotted whizzing past Earth last week in the second closest approach to the planet ever recorded, according to authorities.

Asteroid 2025 TF soared over Antarctica just before 9 p.m. last Tuesday, roughly 266 miles above Earth’s surface, the European Space Agency said in a statement Monday.

“This is a similar altitude to the orbit of the International Space Station, and one of the closest approaches ever recorded,” the agency wrote on X.

The asteroid, which was roughly 3 to 10 feet across, was first spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey based at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson, astronomers said.

“Objects of this size pose no significant danger,” the ESA wrote.

“They can produce fireballs if they strike Earth’s atmosphere, and may result in the discovery of small meteorites on the ground,” the agency added.

Astronomers at ESA’s Planetary Defence Office located the asteroid shortly after it was discovered using the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope in Siding Spring, Australia, authorities said.

“Tracking down a metre-scale object in the vast darkness of space at a time when its location is still uncertain is an impressive feat,” the ESA said.

“This observation helped astronomers determine the close approach distance and time given above to such high precision.”

The narrow miss comes nearly five years after asteroid 2020 VT4 roared past the ocean near French Polynesia, roughly 230 miles from Earth’s surface.

On Nov. 14, 2020, the asteroid made a ” remarkably close miss” and “will probably hold the record of the closest non-impacting asteroid for a long time,” the Near Earth Objects Coordination Center wrote at the time.