Only a little more than one week since its initial sighting, a bus-sized asteroid will be making its closest approach to Earth in over a century and it will not be solo. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has confirmed that asteroid 2025 QV5, which is approximately 35 feet wide, will be passing within 500,000 miles of the Earth at a speed of more than 13,900 miles per hour. It’s about twice as far from us as the Moon is, but close enough for astronomers to justify taking a hard look.
It was discovered August 24, 2025 QV5 has a 359.4-day orbit around the Sun, wandering between the orbits of Earth and Venus. The two planets’ gravitational pull on it nudges it slightly off course, but today’s models indicate no impact hazard. Even if it did manage to enter Earth’s atmosphere, its comparatively minor size would mean much of its mass would break down prior to reaching the surface. NASA defines a “potentially hazardous” Near-Earth Object (NEO) as one 460 feet or larger in diameter that comes within 30 million miles, and QV5 does not qualify for this class.
The flyby of the asteroid this time will be its nearest until September 4, 2125, when it is expected to pass within around 830,000 miles. Meanwhile, its next passages in 2026 and 2027 will be much farther at 3.3 million miles and more. Nevertheless, researchers are enthusiastic to take advantage of this unusual closeness. NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar in California, a station that can image asteroids with great detail, has booked tracking sessions to improve orbital information and examine surface features. Radar observations can determine rotation speeds, shape, and even spot boulder fields or craters on the surface of the asteroid.
Also sharing the center of attention is asteroid 2025 QD8, a larger asteroid measuring around 71 feet in diameter roughly the length of a commercial aircraft. It will fly even closer, just 136,000 miles from Earth, or 57 percent of the Earth-Moon distance, at a scorching speed of 28,600 miles per hour. With this proximity, it is a perfect candidate for live public viewing. The Virtual Telescope Project will be live-streaming images of QD8 at 7 p.m. Eastern time, providing an unusual opportunity for the general public to see a NEO on the move.
These double flybys highlight the increasing capabilities of NEO detection and tracking networks. NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) and JPL’s Small-Body Database depend on an international network of observatories and automated sky surveys to detect such objects, in some cases only a few days in advance of their closest approach. The detection of QV5 barely a week before its flyby demonstrates both capability and difficulty in detecting small, quick-moving asteroids against the crowded field of stars.
Once found, accurate tracking relies on frequent positional observations to make more detailed orbital parameters. This alone can fundamentally change risk calculations, as in the cases of other asteroids whose initial impact probabilities were subsequently dropped to zero following further observations. Radar imaging, like that to be undertaken on QV5, can further tighten models by making direct measurements of an asteroid’s distance and velocity at meter-level accuracy.
Aside from observation, occurrences such as these contribute to planetary defense missions. NASA’s recent DART mission proved that an asteroid can be deflected by changing its path via kinetic impact, a process that would potentially be used to deflect larger, threatening NEOs. Neither QV5 nor QD8 is threatening, but understanding their physical characteristics and orbital behaviors contributes to models that would orchestrate future deflection missions. Even small-scale flybys provide valuable test cases for refining response protocols and international coordination in the event of a genuine hazard.
For amateur astronomers, the flyby of QD8 provides a brief but visible target. It will be bright enough for mid-sized home telescopes at its closest point, although its high speed will demand accurate tracking. QV5, more distant and less luminous, will be harder to detect without professional instruments, so the Goldstone radar observations become especially useful for public observation and scientific scrutiny alike.
These close encounters, days apart, remind us that the cosmic neighborhood of Earth is not a vacuum. Every new object followed contributes to a mounting list of NEOs, now in the tens of thousands, with additional ones found each month. As detection networks grow more extensive and radar technology advances, scientists are creating an ever more detailed portrait of the smaller bodies that inhabit our solar system and the knowledge to act in case one were to wander too near.
