{"id":770046,"date":"2026-07-18T10:17:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770046\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T10:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:17:25","slug":"amateur-astronomer-spotted-the-tesla-roadster-elon-musk-launched-in-space-and-what-he-saw-caused-a-bit-of-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770046\/","title":{"rendered":"Amateur astronomer spotted the Tesla Roadster Elon Musk launched in space and what he saw caused a bit of panic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Amateur<\/p>\n

An amateur astronomer made a tiny mistake when he spotted the\u00a0Tesla<\/a>\u00a0Roadster that Elon Musk and SpaceX fired into space a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk launched the Tesla Roadster into space aboard a SpaceX rocket in 2018 in what was essentially a marketing stunt.<\/p>\n

The EV<\/a> has been orbiting the Earth ever since, and there are several websites that are tracking the car\u2019s trajectory.<\/p>\n

The problem is that this guy probably hadn\u2019t checked those websites, and what he saw made everyone gasp for a second.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what happened to Musk\u2019s Tesla<\/p>\n

Elon Musk used his Roadster as a dummy payload for the rocket\u2019s first test and launched it into space.<\/p>\n

The car was Musk\u2019s personal Roadster, but he even placed a\u00a0SpaceX<\/a>\u00a0mannequin inside named Starman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are several websites that keep track of the car, including Whereisroadster.com<\/a>, which is probably the most famous.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>SpaceX<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, the car is around 84 million miles from Earth, but it is currently moving away from Mars and the Sun and back toward Earth<\/a>, and it\u2019s doing so at a speed of around 35,000+ mph.<\/p>\n

The fact that this Tesla Roadster is approaching Earth again, combined with the astronomer\u2019s mistake, caused some panic.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>SpaceX<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why there was a collective moment of panic<\/p>\n

The problem is that there are so many objects flying around the Earth \u2013 including SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellites<\/a>, ironically \u2013 and it\u2019s been difficult to keep track of everything that\u2019s in orbit.<\/p>\n

Also, if you\u2019re an amateur astronomer, it\u2019s not like you\u2019re going to see a red car-shaped figure in space.<\/p>\n

All you\u2019ll see is a tiny dot.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>einstraus\/Wikipedia Commons<\/p>\n

So when this Turkish astronomer spotted the vehicle, he initially mistook it for a new asteroid<\/a>, which set off a few alarm bells.<\/p>\n

But then Peter Veres, an astrophysicist at the Minor Planet Center, explained what happened.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the\u00a0Smithsonian Magazine<\/a>, he explained that the Turkish astronomer had cross-referenced the Roadster via a catalog of artificial satellites that did not include the Roadster, and so he had assumed it was an asteroid approaching Earth.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>SpaceX<\/p>\n

In theory, the SpaceX Roadster could eventually hit Earth, but not for millions of years.<\/p>\n

Scientists estimate there is about a 6 percent chance of a collision within the next million years, and a 22 percent to 50 percent chance over tens of millions of years.<\/p>\n

And even if it ever does enter our atmosphere, the car will almost entirely vaporize on entry, posing absolutely no danger to anyone on the ground.<\/p>\n

History of the Tesla Roadster in Space<\/p>\n

February 6, 2018: Elon Musk\u2019s personal cherry-red Tesla Roadster is launched aboard SpaceX\u2019s maiden Falcon Heavy test flight, with the mannequin \u2018Starman\u2019 in the driver\u2019s seat<\/p>\n

February 2018: After leaving Earth orbit, the Roadster is placed into a heliocentric orbit around the Sun, crossing the paths of Earth and Mars<\/p>\n

August 2019: The Roadster completes its first orbit around the Sun, marking roughly 18 months in deep space<\/p>\n

October 2020: The Roadster makes a distant flyby of Mars at around 5 million miles, with the planet\u2019s gravity having little effect on its trajectory<\/p>\n

January 2, 2025: An amateur astronomer in Turkey mistakes the Roadster for a newly discovered near-Earth asteroid, prompting astronomers to temporarily designate it as 2018 CN41<\/p>\n

January 3, 2025: Astronomers identify the object as Musk\u2019s Tesla Roadster, withdraw the asteroid designation, and confirm there is no threat to Earth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An amateur astronomer made a tiny mistake when he spotted the\u00a0Tesla\u00a0Roadster that Elon Musk and SpaceX fired into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-770046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}