Asteroid 2026 JH2 is about to fly by Earth — relatively speaking

Look for! asteroid 2026 JH2 is now approaching Earth; The roughly 20-meter (66-foot) diameter object — which resembles Chicago’s Cloud Gate sculpture — will pass by on May 18. Enthusiasts will be able to observe it using a telescope or during a live broadcast organized by the virtual telescope.

The object will pass at least 57,000 miles from Earth, much closer than the Moon, which is about four times away. Of the near-Earth objects, or near-Earth objects, that will pass by the planet over the next few months, it will be the closest.

There are tens of thousands of near-Earth objects, which are generally of no special interest; They are being monitored, of course, and some have a (small) risk of impacting Earth in the next few years. According to New Scientist, 2026 JH2 is not among them, despite the widespread use of exaggerated terms like “grazing” to describe how close it is.

Apollo type neo

Asteroid 2026 JH2 is technically an Apollo-type near-Earth object, according to a classification system that takes into account the characteristics of the object’s orbit. An Apollo-type object has a semi-major axis greater than Earth’s axis (and thus greater than 1 AU, our distance from the Sun), and a perihelion (shortest distance from the Sun) of less than 1,017 AU. (All asteroids and comets with perihelion less than 1.3 AU are considered near-Earth objects.)

Its passage, though noteworthy, is not uncommon; In fact, in the past year, many things have come as close, if not closer. It was noteworthy, for example, the passage of the small asteroid 2025 TF at a distance of about 260 miles) from the Earth’s surface.

This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and was translated from Italian.