ASTEROID FLYBY0.02× MOON

Asteroid 2026 TP128 flew past Earth

Closest approach
Map: Asteroid 2026 TP128 flew past Earth

Asteroid 2026 TP128 passed Earth on Thursday, October 15, 2026 at about 14:38 UTC, at 7,490 km (4,654 miles): 0.02 times the distance to the Moon, closer than the Moon itself. It was moving at 21.5 km/s (48,073 mph) relative to Earth and is about 1 to 2 meters (4 to 8 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 15 14:38 UTC
Distance7,490 km · 4,654 mi
Lunar distances0.02
Speed21.5 km/s · 48,073 mph
Size (est.)1–2 m
Brightness (H)32.0
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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 1.6 years. Astronomers first spotted it on October 15, 2026, just 0 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.

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

Did you know?

Meteor Crater. Arizona’s Meteor Crater, about 1.2 km (0.7 miles) wide, was blasted out some 50,000 years ago by an iron meteorite roughly 50 meters across.

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