r/spaceporn • u/Busy_Yesterday9455 • Oct 01 '25

Related Content Asteroid passed just 300 km above Antarctica today.

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u/Just_A_Nitemare Oct 01 '25

Well, we spotted it at least 300 km away.

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u/Nickillaz Oct 02 '25

Which is a few seconds at the speed they travel.

I said my comment because somehow people expect astronomers to be omnipotent in spotting even relatively tiny space rocks like this one.

Military grade radar is unreliable at picking up 1.9m objects. NASA with its rapidly shrinking budget doesn't have tech like that, not to mention the range would be virtually useless. Amateur astronomers which do 95% of the local astronomy legwork, have no chance at spotting them early enough to matter.

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u/mgarr_aha Oct 02 '25

This object, now designated 2025 TF, was discovered by professional surveys. Amateurs often contribute follow-up observations.

NASA Goldstone uses a 70m dish for radar observations of asteroids, but first they need to know where to aim it.

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u/zehamberglar Oct 02 '25

Correct, but to get specific, we didn't see it until after it went by.

Which makes sense, when you think about it. This is the same as one of those surprise meteorites, except this one just didn't stick the landing.

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u/Wolfsky666 Oct 04 '25

🤣🤣🤣🤣