2026 JH2 Asteroid Is Between 50 And 100 Feet Across, Has Been Observed Just 24 Times, And NASA Says There Is No Impact Risk. The Virtual Telescope Project Will Stream It Live At 5:45pm ET
According to ABC7 / ABC News, a newly discovered asteroid designated 2026 JH2 will pass within approximately 56,000 miles of Earth today, Monday May 18; significantly closer than the distance between Earth and the Moon, which averages around 239,000 miles.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimates the asteroid is between 50 and 100 feet across, roughly the size of a large building. The object was identified only days ago by astronomers at five observatories, including Farpoint Observatory in Kansas and Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, and has been tracked just 24 times. While its trajectory is still being refined, current calculations show no impact risk.
2026 JH2 is classified as an Apollo-class near-Earth object; a designation NASA applies to asteroids whose orbits are larger than Earth’s but whose paths cross Earth’s orbit. The Virtual Telescope Project will stream the close approach live beginning at 5:45pm ET today. The encounter is a reminder that bus-sized asteroids pass through Earth’s neighbourhood several times every year, and that the majority of them are discovered only days before their closest approach.
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