Newly Discovered Asteroid Turns Out to Be Tesla Roadster Launched Into Space

Elon Musk’s taste for the dramatic strikes again. What astronomers initially logged as a newly discovered asteroid has turned out to be none other than the Tesla Roadster launched into space by SpaceX seven years ago. File this one under 'Oops.'

The Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts mistakenly identified the object as an asteroid, assigning it the name 2018 CN41 earlier this month. But just a day after its registration, the celestial misfit was demoted from asteroid status when astronomers realized it was actually Musk’s iconic roadster, still cruising through the cosmos.

The Minor Planet Center explained on its website that the registry for 2018 CN41 was deleted after it was discovered that its orbit matched that of an artificial object: 2018-017A, the Falcon Heavy upper stage carrying the Tesla Roadster. "The designation 2018 CN41 is being deleted and will be listed as omitted," the center announced.

For those keeping score, that’s one small step for SpaceX, one giant facepalm for astronomy.

SpaceX launched the car on the maiden flight of its massive Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2018. Initially, the roadster was expected to follow an elliptical orbit around the sun, stretching just beyond Mars before looping back toward Earth. However, as Musk noted at the time, it overshot Mars’ orbit and headed deeper into the asteroid belt.

When the roadster was mistaken for an asteroid earlier this month, it was less than 150,000 miles from Earth—closer than the moon’s orbit. Astronomy Magazine pointed out that, at such proximity, astronomers would naturally want to monitor its movements to ensure it doesn’t stray too close to our planet.

Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) called the mix-up "a reminder of the challenges posed by untracked objects." He quipped to Astronomy Magazine, "Worst case, you spend a billion launching a space probe to study an asteroid and only realize it’s not an asteroid when you get there." Fair point—imagine the awkward silence in that mission debriefing.

Fox News Digital has reached out to SpaceX for comment on the mix-up. Meanwhile, the roadster continues its endless joyride through space, proving that even in the vastness of the cosmos, Earth’s quirks still find a way to shine.