ASTEROID FLYBY0.6× MOON

Asteroid 2026 UA1 flies past Earth

Closest approach
Map: Asteroid 2026 UA1 flies past Earth

Asteroid 2026 UA1 will pass Earth on Friday, October 23, 2026 at about 17:31 UTC, at 221,538 km (137,664 miles): 0.58 times the distance to the Moon, closer than the Moon itself. It is moving at 9.5 km/s (21,253 mph) relative to Earth and is about 7 to 16 meters (23 to 52 feet) across, judging by its brightness. NASA’s orbit puts it safely past: it poses no risk of hitting Earth on this pass.

Closest approachOct 23 17:31 UTC
Distance221,538 km · 137,664 mi
Lunar distances0.58
Speed9.5 km/s · 21,253 mph
Size (est.)7–16 m
Brightness (H)27.9
See it on the live 3D globe →Watch live on YouTube🔔 Get alerts near you

Its orbit

It is an Apollo asteroid: its orbit is larger than Earth’s but crosses it. It circles the Sun once every 442 days. Astronomers first spotted it on October 20, 2026, just 3 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?

The biggest asteroid. Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt at about 940 km (585 miles) across, is classed as a dwarf planet.

More: every space weather and near-Earth page · all events

More from around the world