NASA Issues Alert: 120-Foot-Wide Asteroid to Zoom Past Earth on July 4 – All You Need to Know

NASA has issued an alert regarding asteroid 2025 MV89, a space rock roughly the size of a commercial airplane, that is set to pass close to Earth on July 4 at 9:09 PM IST. Measuring approximately 120 feet in width, the asteroid will fly by at a velocity of 31,204 km/h, maintaining a safe distance of 1,960,000 kilometres from our planet.

Is There Any Risk?

NASA has assured that 2025 MV89 poses no danger. Although the flyby is astronomically close—about five times the distance between the Earth and Moon—it falls well outside the parameters of a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (which requires the object to be over 150 meters in diameter and pass within 7.5 million kilometres of Earth).

What Makes This Asteroid Significant?

Despite posing no threat, the asteroid’s flyby draws attention due to its size and speed. Events like these highlight the importance of planetary defense and space surveillance efforts carried out by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The agency uses tools such as Pan-STARRS, Catalina Sky Survey, and NEOWISE to monitor asteroid movements.

What’s Next?

With future missions like the NEO Surveyor in development, NASA aims to further improve its ability to detect and track space objects that could pose a threat. For now, 2025 MV89 is simply a reminder of the dynamic and active universe we live in—and the science helping to protect us.