Asteroid (2022 UD21)
Closest pass on 2026-Oct-29 20:14 TDB (Julian Date: 2461343.343123302)
Key Facts
- On 2026-Oct-29 20:14, asteroid (2022 UD21) passed Earth at a nominal distance of 7,900,000 km (20.5 lunar distances).
- At closest approach, the object was traveling at 12.2 km/s relative to Earth.
- The object has an estimated size of 27.2 m, which is about 2.5 school buses.
- The miss distance was about 21 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 | 27 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 | 2022 UD21 |
|---|---|
| Full Object Name | (2022 UD21) |
| Nominal Miss Distance | 7,900,000 km (20.5 lunar distances / 0.0527925229275568 au) |
| 3-Sigma Minimum Distance | 7,897,614.959 km (20.545 LD) |
| Relative Velocity (v_rel) | 12.1659613889101 km/s (about one and a half ISS orbital speeds) |
| Velocity at Infinity (v_inf) | 12.1618121583233 km/s |
| Time Uncertainty (3-sigma) | < 00:01 |
| Absolute Magnitude (H) | 25.58 mag |
| Orbit Solution ID | 10 (NASA JPL Small-Body Database) |
| Inside Moon Orbit | No |
| Inside Geostationary Ring | No |
Cite this page
Permanent URL: https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-29/2022-ud21/ | Machine-readable twin: index.json
APA:
What Nearly Hit Us Project. (2026). Asteroid (2022 UD21) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-29 20:14. What Nearly Hit Us. Retrieved from https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-29/2022-ud21/MLA:
"Asteroid (2022 UD21) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-29 20:14." What Nearly Hit Us, What Nearly Hit Us Project, 2026-09-24, https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-29/2022-ud21/.BibTeX:
@misc{approach_2022UD21_202629,
title = {Asteroid (2022 UD21) Close Approach on 2026-Oct-29 20:14},
author = {{What Nearly Hit Us Project}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Oct-29/2022-ud21/},
note = {Primary upstream source: NASA/JPL CNEOS CAD API}
}