Asteroid 2025 QV5 was discovered on August 24. It will make its closest approach to Earth on September 3, and the next such event won't happen for another century. (Image: Juan Gartner via Getty Images)
A space object the size of a bus, discovered less than two weeks ago, will fly past Earth on September 3. The next similar approach is not expected until September 4, 2125 – a century later.
The celestial body, designated 2025 QV5, was first spotted on August 24. Its diameter is estimated at 11 meters, which is close to the length of a typical bus, and its speed exceeds 22,400 km/h, according to information from the asteroid monitoring system of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
According to JPL, the object will pass 805,000 km from our planet on Wednesday, which is twice the distance to the Moon.
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2025 QV5 moves in a nearly circular orbit around the Sun with a period of 359.4 days. Its trajectory lies between the orbits of Earth and Venus, subject to the weak gravitational influence of these planets. This makes a collision with Earth unlikely. Even in a hypothetical impact, its size is insufficient to be classified as “potentially hazardous”, and the bulk of its mass would disintegrate in the atmosphere.
Despite this, researchers are actively studying this object. It is included in the list of targets of NASA's Goldstone Radar Telescope in California, which specializes in observing near-Earth asteroids.
The orbit of 2025 QV5 crosses the zones of Earth and Venus. In the coming decades, the object will approach Venus more often.
Over the course of the century, the asteroid will make a number of close approaches to Earth, including flybys in 2026 and 2027. However, the distances will be significantly greater: 5.3 million km in 2026, and three times further in 2027.
The next closest approach is expected on September 4, 2125, 100 years and 2 hours after the current flyby. According to calculations, the distance will be about 1.3 million km.
SEE ALSO
— The James Webb telescope has confirmed the relationship between the asteroids Bennu and Ryugu.
— Asteroid 2024 YR4 could generate a meteor shower when it collides with the Moon in 2032.
— Official denial: NASA did not announce the risk of an asteroid collision in 2038.
The predicted parameters of future encounters may be subject to adjustment.
As data accumulates, the trajectory of 2025 QV5 is refined. For example, the risk assessments of a collision of asteroid 2024 YR4 with the Moon have been repeatedly changed until such a possibility is completely excluded.
Gravitational interactions with other bodies can change the object's course. If 2025 QV5 were to approach an unexplored asteroid, this change would only be detected if it deviated from the calculated trajectory.
Harry BakerSocial Networks
Harry is a senior science editor at Live Science (UK). He holds a degree in marine biology from the University of Exeter. He covers space exploration, planetology, climate and palaeontology. His coverage of solar maximum won an Aerospace Media Award in 2024 and is a nominee for the NCTJ Awards in 2023. He writes the Earth from Space column.
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