Next week, Earth will have a very close call with a potentially destructive asteroid. Designated 2026JH2, this rocky body is set to fly past our planet at a distance of approximately 90,917 kilometers —roughly one-quarter of the distance to the Moon.
While the asteroid poses no immediate threat of impact, its proximity highlights both the dangers lurking in our solar neighborhood and the challenges astronomers face in detecting smaller, faster-moving objects.
A Rarely Seen Close Encounter
In astronomical terms, this is an exceptionally close approach. Mark Norris of Lancaster University describes it as “as close as you can get without hitting.” To put this in perspective, there are only five known asteroids expected to pass within the Moon’s orbit in the coming year, and only one will come closer than 2026JH2.
The asteroid will make its closest approach on May 18 at 9:38 PM UTC. However, spotting it will be difficult. Due to its high relative speed of 9.17 kilometers per second, the asteroid will streak across the sky almost as quickly as artificial satellites. Observers in the Northern Hemisphere may catch a brief glimpse, but even astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere will find it challenging to track.
The Danger of “Small” Rocks
Despite its relatively modest size, 2026JH2 carries significant destructive potential. Data from the Sormano Astronomical Observatory estimates its diameter between 16 and 36 meters.
“It’s the kind of thing that would ruin a city quite efficiently, if it hit,” says Norris.
If such an object were to strike Earth, the consequences would be severe. Richard Moissl, head of the European Space Agency’s Planetary Defence Office, compares the potential impact to the Chelyabinsk meteor event of 2013. That explosion released kinetic energy roughly 30 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, causing widespread damage from shockwaves rather than direct impact craters.
Why We Missed It Until Now
One of the most striking aspects of this discovery is how recently 2026JH2 was identified. It was spotted only this week by observers at the Mount Lemmon Survey in Arizona and the Farpoint Observatory in Kansas.
This late discovery underscores a critical gap in our planetary defense capabilities. While astronomers are confident that they have cataloged nearly all asteroids larger than one kilometer, smaller objects remain largely invisible until they are very close.
Mark Burchell of the University of Kent explains the technical hurdle: “They don’t reflect enough light.” These smaller rocks are dark and fast, making them nearly impossible to detect against the backdrop of space until they enter the inner solar system. As our observational technology improves, we are beginning to identify more of these “hidden” threats, but 2026JH2 serves as a reminder that our surveillance is not yet complete.
Conclusion
The flyby of 2026JH2 is a stark reminder that while we have mapped the largest asteroids in our solar system, the smaller, more numerous rocks remain a blind spot. This event underscores the urgent need for improved detection systems to identify potential threats before they arrive, ensuring that future close calls do not turn into catastrophic impacts.
