ESA spots tiny asteroid that made very close approach to Earth

New Delhi: The European Space Agency captured an asteroid designated as 2025 TF through the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope at Siding Spring in Australia, which is part of a global network. The observation was challenging considering how tiny the object was, and the uncertainty of its location at the time of the observation. The observation helped astronomers determine the timing of the close approach, as well as the distance with a high degree of precision. 2025 TF measures between one and three metres across, and approached as close as 428 km to the Earth, with an error of around seven kilometres.

The asteroid passed the Earth at an altitude similar to the orbit of the International Space Station, that varies between 370 and 460 kilometres. The asteroid was initially flagged by the C