See the top 10 stories of 2025 from EarthSky

Top 10 stories of 2025

It was another great year for astronomy and space! We got to see a plethora of planets in January, a smiley face moon in April, along with a number of comets, including the fascinating interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. In fact, the interstellar visitor was our top story of the year. But we also had other new visitors passing by Earth, including a quasi-moon and a space rock that might eventually hit the moon. Read on to see the other highlights of 2025.

#1 – Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS visited our solar system

Comet 3I/ATLAS – the 3rd interstellar object to visit our solar system – zoomed into our consciousness in July. The comet has been traveling at some 130,000 miles per hour (210,000 kph), making it the highest velocity ever recorded for a solar system visitor. Comet 3I/ATLAS passed closest to the sun on October 29. And it passed closest to Earth on December 19. Read more about our interstellar visitor, Comet 3I/ATLAS.

#2 – 1 to 2 Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth per day

It might not be long before you look up and see a fiery, slow-moving object streaking across your night sky and, clearly, breaking into pieces. That’s if you haven’t seen such a thing already. There are currently one to two Starlink satellites falling back to Earth every day, according to soon-to-retire Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell. His acclaimed website Jonathan’s Space Report is widely regarded as the definitive source on spacecraft that go up … and come down. Read more about Starlink satellites falling back to Earth.

#3 – Wham! Hear a meteorite hit the ground for the 1st time

Meteorites – small fragments of space rocks – hit Earth on a regular basis. But a meteorite that landed on Prince Edward Island, Canada, in July 2024 might be a unique first. Both the video and audio of the impact were caught on camera, the University of Alberta said on January 13, 2025. According to a scientist at the university, this is the first known recording of both the audio and video of a meteorite impact. Listen to the meteorite hit the ground here.

#4 – What are the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting the moon?

Asteroid 2024 YR4’s chances of hitting the moon have gone up multiple times. And the latest assessment, on June 3, 2025, from the James Webb Space Telescope, raised its chances of hitting the moon once again, to 4.3%. The date of that still-unlikely impact? December 22, 2032. NASA reassured the public that:

In the small chance that the asteroid were to impact, it would not alter the moon’s orbit.

Read more about asteroid 2024 YR4.

#5 – Myanmar earthquake: Is this the first fault rupture on film?

On March 28, 2025, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit the southeast Asian country of Myanmar. And a security camera for GP Energy Myanmar was rolling, capturing the moment when the Earth split. It may be the first fault rupture ever caught on video. See the video here.

#6 – Meet Earth’s newest quasi-moon, recently discovered 2025 PN7

Earth now has a quirky little companion called 2025 PN7. It’s a quasi-moon that will share an orbit with us for the next 60 years or so. The Pan-STARRS observatory on Haleakala in Hawaii first spotted the quasi-moon on August 29, 2025. Older data revealed that 2025 PN7 has been in this particular orbit for about 60 years and will stay in this orbit for about another 60 years before the tug of the sun once again releases it from its quasi-moon status. Read more about the quasi-moon.

#7 – Earth’s ice caps are temporary and rare, study suggests

Earth has ice caps at its North Pole and South Pole. The northern one floats on an ocean, and the southern one rests on land. But how did Earth’s ice caps form? And why do they exist at all? As it turns out, we just happen to live in a time when Earth’s ice caps exist. Researchers at the University of Leeds in the U.K. said on February 17, 2025, that ice caps are the rare result of various complex cooling processes that happened simultaneously. For most of Earth’s history, the poles have been ice-free. Read more about Earth’s ice caps.

#8 – Meet Quipu, largest known structure in the universe

A team of astronomers have mapped the nearby universe, from about 425 million to 800 million light-years, and discovered the largest-known structure residing there. They’ve named this massive collection of galaxies Quipu. And they said it stretches some 1.3 billion light-years long, containing the mass of some 200 quadrillion stars. Read more about Quipu.

#9 – Do aliens exist? What scientists really think

News stories about the likely existence of extraterrestrial life, and our chances of detecting it, tend to be positive. We are often told that we might discover it any time now. But what does the relevant community of experts actually think when considered as a whole? Are optimistic predictions common or rare? Is there even a consensus? Read whether scientists think aliens exist.

#10 – Strange spiral in the night sky was a rocket fuel dump

Stargazers outside looking for Perseid meteors were treated to an unusual sight. On August 12, 2025, many people in the northern and eastern parts of the United States reported seeing a strange spiral in the night sky. They described it as slowly moving and rotating. Indeed, even some aviation buffs and longtime amateur astronomers were stumped by what they were seeing. Here’s what caused the strange spiral in the night sky.

Bottom line: Here are the top 10 stories of 2025. An interstellar comet visited us, cameras captured a meteorite strike and an earthquake, and much more!

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