Asteroid (2021 RF2)
Closest pass on 2026-Oct-04 20:18 TDB (Julian Date: 2461318.345968664)
Key Facts
- On 2026-Oct-04 20:18, asteroid (2021 RF2) passed Earth at a nominal distance of 9,890,000 km (25.7 lunar distances).
- At closest approach, the object was traveling at 7.74 km/s relative to Earth.
- The object has an estimated size of 25.1 m, which is about 2 school buses.
- The miss distance was about 26 times the distance to the Moon.
- Hazard classification: 25 to 50 meters. Can produce a low-altitude airburst or surface crater capable of flattening forests over hundreds of square kilometers and devastating a metropolitan area, comparable to the 1908 Tunguska event.
Visual Scale Comparison
| Target | 25 m |
|---|---|
| Smaller | blue whale: 25 m |
| Larger | Boeing 747: 70.6 m |
Object size compared to known reference benchmarks.
Miss Distance Orbital Dial
Concentric orbital rings showing Earth, Moon orbit, and asteroid trajectory.
Astrometric & Orbital Parameters
| Designation | 2021 RF2 |
|---|---|
| Full Object Name | (2021 RF2) |
| Nominal Miss Distance | 9,890,000 km (25.7 lunar distances / 0.0661195274175003 au) |
| 3-Sigma Minimum Distance | 8,697,177.034 km (22.625 LD) |
| Relative Velocity (v_rel) | 7.73654096199598 km/s (about the speed of a ISS orbital velocity) |
| Velocity at Infinity (v_inf) | 7.73133043009476 km/s |
| Time Uncertainty (3-sigma) | 00:15 |
| Absolute Magnitude (H) | 25.75 mag |
| Orbit Solution ID | 11 (NASA JPL Small-Body Database) |
| Inside Moon Orbit | No |
| Inside Geostationary Ring | No |
Cite this page
Permanent URL: https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-04/2021-rf2/ | Machine-readable twin: index.json
APA:
What Nearly Hit Us Project. (2026). Asteroid (2021 RF2) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-04 20:18. What Nearly Hit Us. Retrieved from https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-04/2021-rf2/MLA:
"Asteroid (2021 RF2) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-04 20:18." What Nearly Hit Us, What Nearly Hit Us Project, 2026-09-24, https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-04/2021-rf2/.BibTeX:
@misc{approach_2021RF2_202604,
title = {Asteroid (2021 RF2) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-04 20:18},
author = {{What Nearly Hit Us Project}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-04/2021-rf2/},
note = {Primary upstream source: NASA/JPL CNEOS CAD API}
}