Using early data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is set to kick off full operations later this spring, an international team of astronomers has discovered an asteroid that spins so fast, it should’ve torn itself apart. The unusual cosmic lump — dubbed 2025 MN 45 , 2,300 feet in diameter and located in the Main Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter — completes a full rotation every minute and 53 seconds, as detailed in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. While that may not sound like all that fast at first blush, it’s an astonishing feat considering the object’s sheer bulk. “For objects in the main asteroid belt, the fast-rotation limit to avoid being fragmented is 2.2 hours; asteroids spinning faster than this must be structurally strong to remain intact,” the paper reads. But thanks to the Rubin Observatory’s extremely light-sensitive sensors, the team was able to discover the most distant fast rotators ever spotted.