Asteroid (2015 TS238)
Closest pass on 2026-Oct-08 17:12 TDB (Julian Date: 2461322.216741865)
Key Facts
- On 2026-Oct-08 17:12, asteroid (2015 TS238) passed Earth at a nominal distance of 1,810,000 km (4.72 lunar distances).
- At closest approach, the object was traveling at 15.8 km/s relative to Earth.
- The object has an estimated size of 29.5 m, which is about 2.5 school buses.
- The miss distance was about 5 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 | 30 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 | 2015 TS238 |
|---|---|
| Full Object Name | (2015 TS238) |
| Nominal Miss Distance | 1,810,000 km (4.72 lunar distances / 0.0121252406802646 au) |
| 3-Sigma Minimum Distance | 693,156.695 km (1.803 LD) |
| Relative Velocity (v_rel) | 15.8100956775517 km/s (about 2 ISS orbital speeds) |
| Velocity at Infinity (v_inf) | 15.7961904366447 km/s |
| Time Uncertainty (3-sigma) | 7_06:25 |
| Absolute Magnitude (H) | 25.4 mag |
| Orbit Solution ID | 7 (NASA JPL Small-Body Database) |
| Inside Moon Orbit | No |
| Inside Geostationary Ring | No |
Cite this page
Permanent URL: https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-08/2015-ts238/ | Machine-readable twin: index.json
APA:
What Nearly Hit Us Project. (2026). Asteroid (2015 TS238) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-08 17:12. What Nearly Hit Us. Retrieved from https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-08/2015-ts238/MLA:
"Asteroid (2015 TS238) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-08 17:12." What Nearly Hit Us, What Nearly Hit Us Project, 2026-09-24, https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-08/2015-ts238/.BibTeX:
@misc{approach_2015TS238_202608,
title = {Asteroid (2015 TS238) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-08 17:12},
author = {{What Nearly Hit Us Project}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-08/2015-ts238/},
note = {Primary upstream source: NASA/JPL CNEOS CAD API}
}