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2009 VA is an asteroid that came within of Earth on 6 November 2009 making it the third closest non-impacting approach of a cataloged asteroid.
With a diameter of only , scientists think that even if it had been on a direct collision course with Earth, it would have likely burned up in the atmosphere.Small Asteroid Spotted Flying Close To Earth , redorbit.com, 11 November 2009 The space rock made its pass by Earth just fifteen hours after its discovery.
The asteroid was first discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona. It was determined that the object would make a pass well within the orbit of the Moon, but would not strike Earth. The object passed so close to Earth that its orbit was modified by Earth's gravity.
2025 virtual impactor
The asteroid only has a very short observation arc of 3 hours and has not been observed since 2009 (16 years ago). Given the short arc, long term predictions of the asteroids position over many years are poorly constrained. It is listed on the Sentry Risk Table with a 1 in 48,000 chance of an Earth impact on 6 November 2025.
+JPL #7 nominal distance for the 6 November 2025 Virtual Impactor Scenario JPL Horizonsnominal geocentricdistance (AU) uncertaintyregion(3-sigma)
See also 2008 TC3 2010 RF12, 2010 RX30, 2010 TD54 - a similar-sized asteroids that passed Earth in 2010 List of notable asteroids#Record-setting close approaches to Earth for other, closer approaches List of asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2009
References RNG_3sigma = uncertainty range in km. (JPL#7/Soln.date: 2021-Apr-15 generates RNG_3sigma = for 2025-Nov-06.)
External links Small Asteroid 2009 VA Whizzes By The Earth