ASTEROID FLYBY0.6× MOON

Asteroid 2026 UP flew past Earth

Closest approach
Map: Asteroid 2026 UP flew past Earth

Asteroid 2026 UP passed Earth on Saturday, October 17, 2026 at about 05:28 UTC, at 233,491 km (145,091 miles): 0.61 times the distance to the Moon, closer than the Moon itself. It was moving at 9.5 km/s (21,287 mph) relative to Earth and is about 4 to 9 meters (13 to 28 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 17 05:28 UTC
Distance233,491 km · 145,091 mi
Lunar distances0.61
Speed9.5 km/s · 21,287 mph
Size (est.)4–9 m
Brightness (H)29.2
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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 446 days. Astronomers first spotted it on October 18, 2026, 1 days after it passed.

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?

The dinosaur killer. An asteroid about 10 km (6 miles) wide struck Mexico’s Yucatán 66 million years ago, helping wipe out the non-bird dinosaurs.

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