Overview
- 2025 FA22 will make its closest approach on September 18 at 09:42 CEST at about 841,900 kilometers from Earth, a distance more than twice the Earth–Moon separation.
- Discovered on March 29 by Pan-STARRS 2, the object briefly reached Torino Scale 1 before follow-up observations reduced its impact probability to zero.
- The International Asteroid Warning Network is treating the object as a “virtual impactor” for a coordinated drill that assumes a hypothetical 2089 strike to test global response protocols.
- NASA plans radar observations with the Goldstone complex, the Virtual Telescope Project will livestream the pass, and the asteroid should reach roughly magnitude 13.2 for viewing with small telescopes.
- Such a bright, sizable asteroid has not passed this close since December 2022, with the next comparable approach expected in 2027, and the separate 2029 Apophis flyby remains a much closer yet nonthreatening event.