In the distant past, the solar system was rife with impacts and collisions. Millions of rocky objects zoomed chaotically through the system, smashing into each other in collisional cascades. Over time,

Astronomers have discovered a small asteroid that has been quietly accompanying Earth on its journey around the sun for the past 60 years, according to research published in September. The celestial object,

A small asteroid, known as 2025 TF, flew over Antarctica on October 1, 2025, at an altitude of only 266 miles.

There are many programs that detect near-Earth asteroids as part of countries' planetary defense strategies. In the case of asteroid 2025 TF, it was the Catalina Sky Survey, based in Arizona and operated by the University of Arizona, that first detected the asteroid hours after it passed Earth.