Newly discovered asteroid will make a close, but safe, encounter with Earth
A newly discovered asteroid will pass within about 56,000 miles of Earth on Monday, significantly closer than the distance between Earth and the moon.
There is no need to worry or cancel any plans, however. Current calculations show no evidence that the object will hit Earth.
The asteroid was identified several days ago by astronomers at five observatories, including Farpoint Observatory in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, and Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona’s Santa Catalina Mountains.
The asteroid, designated 2026 JH2, is likely between 50 and 100 feet across, according to estimates from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That estimate is based on how bright the object appears and how much light scientists think its surface reflects.
Astronomers are still working to better understand the asteroid’s orbit and physical characteristics. So far, the object has been tracked only 24 times over several days. While its trajectory is still being refined, current calculations show no impact risk.
The asteroid is considered an Apollo-class near-Earth object.
"These asteroids have an orbit that is larger than Earth's orbit around the Sun and their path crosses Earth's orbit," according to NASA.
The Virtual Telescope Project plans to stream the encounter live beginning at 5:45 p.m. ET on Monday.
