ASTEROID FLYBY1.0× MOON

Asteroid 2026 SA8 flew past Earth

Closest approach
Map: Asteroid 2026 SA8 flew past Earth

Asteroid 2026 SA8 passed Earth on Monday, September 28, 2026 at about 06:45 UTC, at 379,868 km (236,050 miles): 0.99 times the distance to the Moon, closer than the Moon itself. It was moving at 6.6 km/s (14,790 mph) relative to Earth and is about 5 to 11 meters (16 to 37 feet) across, judging by its brightness. NASA’s orbit puts it safely past: it posed no risk of hitting Earth on this pass.

Closest approachSep 28 06:45 UTC
Distance379,868 km · 236,050 mi
Lunar distances0.99
Speed6.6 km/s · 14,790 mph
Size (est.)5–11 m
Brightness (H)28.6
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Its orbit

It is an Apollo asteroid: its orbit is larger than Earth’s but crosses it. It circles the Sun once every 401 days. Astronomers first spotted it on September 20, 2026, just 8 days before its closest approach.

How often does this happen?

Small asteroids pass between Earth and the Moon every few weeks; most are only a few meters to tens of meters across and are found days before, or even after, they fly by. For scale, the rock that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 was about 18 meters across.

Did you know?

Planetary defense. In 2022 NASA’s DART spacecraft hit the asteroid Dimorphos and changed its orbit: the first test of pushing an asteroid aside.

Data: NASA JPL Small-Body Database and CNEOS close approaches. Size assumes a reflectivity between 5 and 25 percent.

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