Asteroid 2025 SC79 — racing the Sun in a 128‑day orbit and hiding in sunlight

Astronomers have identified asteroid 2025 SC79 orbiting the Sun in just 128 days, making it the Solar System's second‑fastest known asteroid. Detected hidden in the Sun’s glare, its discovery highlights detection blind spots for ‘twilight’ objects that can approach Earth unseen.

Discovered 2025-10-20T21:06:37.894493-07:00 | 2025-10-20T21:06:37.894493-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

2025 SC79’s 128‑day orbit — the Solar System’s second‑fastest known — and its concealment in the Sun’s glare expose survey blind spots for ‘twilight’ asteroids that can approach Earth.
A sub‑1m asteroid discovered hours before a 250‑mile flyby that passed beneath the ISS shows small objects can evade detection until shortly before close approach.
Late or uncertain characterization complicates operations and observation planning; recent VLT-driven revisions to Hayabusa2’s 1998 KY26 approach and the planned high‑attention Apophis 2029 flyby underline the operational and planetary‑defense consequences of incomplete data (see Hayabusa2 KY26 replan and Apophis 2029 planning).

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Times of India Space.com Moneycontrol.com skyandtelescope.org Universe Today Space Daily