ASTEROID FLYBY0.7× MOON

Asteroid 2026 TL6 flew past Earth

Closest approach
Map: Asteroid 2026 TL6 flew past Earth

Asteroid 2026 TL6 passed Earth on Saturday, October 10, 2026 at about 05:40 UTC, at 250,713 km (155,793 miles): 0.65 times the distance to the Moon, closer than the Moon itself. It was moving at 11.8 km/s (26,303 mph) relative to Earth and is about 3 to 7 meters (11 to 24 feet) across, judging by its brightness. NASA’s orbit puts it safely past: it posed no risk of hitting Earth on this pass.

Closest approachOct 10 05:40 UTC
Distance250,713 km · 155,793 mi
Lunar distances0.65
Speed11.8 km/s · 26,303 mph
Size (est.)3–7 m
Brightness (H)29.5
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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 1.9 years. Astronomers first spotted it on October 8, 2026, just 2 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?

Shooting stars. Most shooting stars are specks of dust no bigger than a grain of sand, burning up about 100 km overhead.

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

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