The European Space Agency has revealed a newly discovered asteroid is heading for a ‘possible impact’ with Earth
A new asteroid has been added to Earth’s threat-list(Image: Getty Images)
A newly discovered asteroid has been ranked among the top three potential threats to Earth.
Earlier this year, another near-Earth asteroid drew global attention after astronomers revealed it had a non-zero chance of smashing into Earth in 2032.
Asteroid 2024 YR4 hit headlines after NASA upped its odds of impact to 3.1 per cent – the highest ever recorded for an asteroid of its size, but as more data came in, it reduced this chance down to near zero.
Now, a new asteroid is in town. The space rock, called Asteroid 2025 FA22, has been placed at number three on the risk list by the European Space Agency (ESA) for “possible impact” with Earth in the year 2089.
Measuring roughly 656 feet (200 metres) in diameter, the asteroid is taller than the Gherkin in London, giving it a score on the Palermo Scale above -3.
The newly discovered asteroid will make a close approach to Earth later in 2025(Image: Getty Images/Picture Press RM)
The Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale is used by astronomers to assess the risk of an asteroid impacting Earth by combining both the probability of impact and the potential energy of the impact to give a single risk score.
Values less than -2 suggest no likely consequences, while values between -2 and 0 require careful monitoring, according to NASA.
According to the ESA’s risk list, the asteroid is due to make its close approach – and potential collision – with Earth on September 19, 2089. Though the ESA says the current impact probability is around 0.01 per cent.
The ESA wrote in its newsletter: “A new entry appeared near the top of our risk list, a moderately large asteroid with a possible impact towards the end of the century.
“2025 FA22, a newly discovered asteroid first seen by Pan-STARRS 2, entered the top-3 of our risk list at the end of April, for a possible impact in year 2089.
“The impact probability remains quite small, roughly 0.01%, but its size of roughly 200 metres results in a Palermo Scale above –3, and a Torino Scale near the boundary between 0 and 1. The object remains observable for a few months, and additional data will likely clarify the impact scenarios soon.”
An asteroid 10 to 12 km wide hit central America 66 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs(Image: PA)
The asteroid will next make its close approach to Earth on September 18, 2025, where astronomers will be able to gather more data to better understand its trajectory before it swings by again in 2089.
Of the 1.2 million known asteroids in our Solar System, over 36,000 are near-Earth objects (NEO) – a natural object that orbits close to Earth – and 1,784 objects on the ESA ‘watchlist’ as potential threats to Earth.
Asteroid 2025 FA 22 is currently third on the risk list. Asteroid 2023 VD3 takes the top spot, a smaller space rock estimated to measure between 11 and 24 metres and with a small chance of Earth impact in 2034.
The rock currently in second place is asteroid 2008 JL3, an 50-metre-wide asteroid with an even smaller chance of smashing into Earth in 2027.
The asteroids continue to be monitored by the ESA’s Planetary Defence Office, which searches the sky for potentially hazardous asteroids, calculates and predicts their orbits, as well as produces impact warnings when necessary.