What’s happened? Well, it hasn’t happened yet. But it’s about to. Asteroid 2025 QD8 is heading our way, but you’ll be pleased to know that it’s not on a collision course with our planet, according to space.com. Asteroid 2025 QD8 is believed to have a diameter of between 55 and 124 feet (17 and 38 meters) and will come within around 135,465 miles (218,00 kilometers) of Earth. Roughly speaking, that’s about half the distance as the moon is from our planet. Oh, and it’s traveling at 28,000 miles per hour (45,000 kph) relative to our planet, which is pretty zippy.
Why is this important?
- Knowing about Asteroid 2025 QD8 offers reassurance that we have some smart folks — and telescopes — scanning deep space for hazardous objects heading in our general direction.
- Focusing on such a threat also encourages space agencies and governments to do more to advance technology that can tackle potential threats.
- Case in point: NASA’s Dart mission, which tested a spacecraft’s ability to change the trajectory of an asteroid by crashing into it. And it worked!
Why should I care? In a way, you don’t need to care. You can sleep in your bed this week safe in the knowledge that Asteroid 2025 QD8 is not heading toward your home, or anyone’s home, for that matter. It’s going to fly by and head back toward deep space. But the cool thing is, you can watch it pass by. The Virtual Telescope Project will livestream its journey past Earth from 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 3, using robotic telescopes based in Manciano, Italy. We’ve embedded the stream at the top of this page.
