A 9.8-foot asteroid named 2025 TF passed just 265 miles above Earth — closer than the International Space Station — and was only detected hours after the near miss.

In an event that has stunned astronomers and alarmed space-watchers across the globe, a house-sized asteroid came within just 300 miles of Earth’s surface — and NASA didn’t even notice until it was already gone.

The asteroid, officially dubbed 2025 TF, streaked past the planet in the early morning hours of October 1, flying over Antarctica at a terrifyingly close altitude of just 265 miles.

That’s lower than the orbit of the International Space Station — closer to Earth than many GPS satellites — and yet, no one saw it coming.

No alerts. No warnings. No last-minute “Armageddon”-style mission to blow it out of the sky.

In fact, astronomers only realized what had happened hours after the near-miss, when the object was picked up by the Catalina Sky Survey — long after the asteroid had already zipped past.

“If it had been just a little lower, we might be talking about debris recovery right now,” one planetary defense specialist said. “It was a cosmic bullet that whizzed past our heads — and we didn’t hear the gunshot until it was already over.”

The rock, measuring roughly 9.8 feet (three meters) in diameter, was small enough that experts say it would have likely burned up or exploded in the atmosphere before reaching the ground.

But had it collided with a satellite or the ISS, the results could have been catastrophic.

“There were no spacecraft in the way this time,” a European Space Agency (ESA) official noted. “But this should be a wake-up call.”

The ESA’s Planetary Defence Office later confirmed the pass using Australia’s Las Cumbres Observatory, calculating that 2025 TF reached its closest point to Earth at exactly 01:47:26 BST.

Though it wasn’t large enough to be classified as a “potentially hazardous object” — a title reserved for asteroids at least 460 feet wide — the close shave has renewed fears about how many smaller, fast-moving rocks might be lurking in the shadows of space, undetected by even the most advanced surveillance systems.

“The fact that we missed this one completely until it had already passed is more than unsettling,” one NASA insider admitted, speaking anonymously due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which has paused most public communication from the agency.

“We can’t intercept what we can’t see.”

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has since added 2025 TF to its database, noting that its next known approach to Earth won’t occur until 2087 — and that encounter is expected to be a much safer 3.7 million miles away.

But for many observers, the damage has already been done — not physically, but to public trust in planetary defense.

“Imagine if this had been larger. Imagine we had only 30 minutes of warning — or less,” said a former astronaut and current space policy analyst. “This time it was Antarctica and a 10-foot rock. Next time, it might be a city.”

These concerns aren’t without precedent. In 2013, a 66-foot asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, and exploded 19 miles above the surface with a force 30 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

That rock hadn’t been detected at all, as it approached from the sun’s direction — a blind spot still troubling space agencies today.

Since then, governments have invested heavily in asteroid detection and deflection efforts. NASA’s DART mission successfully demonstrated that an asteroid’s path could be altered in space, giving humanity its first glimpse at potential planetary defense strategies.

But experts agree that detection remains the biggest weakness in the system.

Small asteroids like 2025 TF — often called “city stingers” — are notoriously difficult to track. Too small to reflect much light and often moving unpredictably, they can remain hidden until the last moment.

And while they may not pose a planet-wide threat, they could easily flatten a town or trigger destruction if they struck near populated areas or critical infrastructure.

“It’s like trying to spot a mosquito in a pitch-black room,” said one astronomer. “We’ve gotten good at finding the whales, but it’s the piranhas that keep slipping through.”

As of October 4, there are 39,585 known near-Earth asteroids. Of these, 11,453 are larger than 460 feet and 877 are over one kilometer wide.

While those figures may sound daunting, space agencies assure the public that no known object currently poses a threat to Earth within the next 100 years.

Still, 2,500 of those objects are officially categorized as “potentially hazardous” due to their size and proximity to Earth’s orbit.

The question now is how to handle the ones we don’t know about — and whether the world’s space surveillance systems are truly ready for what may come next.

“This event underscores how much more we need to do,” said an ESA spokesperson. “The systems are improving. But until we can detect every rock heading our way — no matter how small — we are still vulnerable.”

In the meantime, scientists are analyzing the trajectory of 2025 TF to learn more about its orbit and composition. It may have already passed Earth unnoticed once, but officials warn it won’t be the last rock to do so.

“This wasn’t a near-miss. This was a warning shot,” said a senior astronomer. “And we’d better start paying attention.”