A bus-sized space rock first spotted days ago will zip past Earth at roughly a quarter of the moon’s distance.
WASHINGTON — A newly discovered asteroid is on course to pass closer to Earth than many orbiting satellites next Monday, offering scientists a rare opportunity to study a near-Earth object at close range without launching a mission to reach it.
The asteroid, designated 2026 JH2, will pass Earth at a distance of about 56,700 miles on May 18. That puts it at just 24% of the average lunar distance, well within the orbit of many communications satellites.
The asteroid was recently discovered by astronomers from the Mount Lemmon Survey in Arizona and the Farpoint Observatory in Eskridge, Kansas. It was first observed on May 10.
Despite its proximity, scientists say there is no cause for alarm. Current calculations show no evidence it will hit Earth.
Scientists estimate the asteroid measures between 50 and 115 feet across — roughly the same size as the object responsible for the Chelyabinsk airburst over Russia in 2013, which produced a shockwave that shattered windows across a wide swath of Siberia and injured more than 1,000 people, even though the asteroid itself disintegrated in the atmosphere before reaching the ground.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory classifies 2026 JH2 as an Apollo-class near-Earth object, meaning its orbit crosses Earth’s path around the sun.
For those without access to a telescope, the Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast the flyby live online, beginning at 21:45 UTC (5:45 p.m. ET) on May 18, just after closest approach when the asteroid will be near peak brightness. The asteroid will not be visible to the naked eye.
The flyby arrives three years before an even more closely watched event: on April 13, 2029, near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis — a 1,230-foot-wide rock once feared as a potential impact risk — will pass just 20,000 miles from Earth. Astronomers have ruled out any collision risk from Apophis for at least a century.