An asteroid roughly the size of a commercial airplane will make a close approach to Earth on Wednesday, September 3, according to data from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The asteroid, designated 2025 QD8, poses no threat of collision but will offer astronomers a rare chance to observe such an object at close range.
NASA reports that 2025 QD8 will pass within approximately 136,000 miles (218,000 kilometers) of Earth at 10:57 a.m. ET. This distance represents about 57 percent of the average separation between Earth and the Moon. Measuring about 71 feet (22 meters) wide, the asteroid will be traveling at an estimated 28,000 miles per hour (45,000 kilometers per hour) relative to Earth.
The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0, operated by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy, will provide a livestream of the event beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, September 2. The project, led by astronomer Gianluca Masi, uses remotely controlled telescopes to offer real-time views of celestial phenomena. On Monday, Masi captured a 120-second exposure of 2025 QD8 with the 17-inch “Elana” telescope, when the asteroid was still 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) away.
According to the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Objects Coordination Center, 2025 QD8 will make several close passes over the next century, with Wednesday’s approach being the closest recorded to date and through the year 2121. Its next known encounter will occur in 2038, though at a greater distance.
The asteroid belongs to a population of nearly 40,000 near-Earth objects identified and tracked by NASA since 1980. These are defined as objects whose orbits bring them within 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) of the Sun, allowing them to periodically cross Earth’s orbital path. Monitoring such objects forms part of NASA’s planetary defense program, which assesses potential impact risks and ensures preparedness for possible threats.
The Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) analyzes the orbits of these bodies, forecasts their close approaches, and provides impact hazard assessments for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. While thousands of near-Earth objects are classified as potentially hazardous, NASA confirms that no known asteroid currently poses an impact threat within the next 100 years.
At 71 feet in diameter, 2025 QD8 is not large enough to qualify as potentially hazardous. Still, scientists emphasize that studying even small near-Earth asteroids improves understanding of detection capabilities and provides valuable data on the physical properties of these primordial Solar System remnants. Such observations contribute to broader research on the origins of the Sun, planets, and other celestial bodies.
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