Asteroid (2026 RE51)
Closest pass on 2026-Sep-29 16:23 TDB (Julian Date: 2461313.182399464)
Key Facts
- On 2026-Sep-29 16:23, asteroid (2026 RE51) passed Earth at a nominal distance of 7,720,000 km (20.1 lunar distances).
- At closest approach, the object was traveling at 15.5 km/s relative to Earth.
- The object has an estimated size of 47.5 m, which is just under 4 school buses.
- The miss distance was just over 20 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 | 48 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 | 2026 RE51 |
|---|---|
| Full Object Name | (2026 RE51) |
| Nominal Miss Distance | 7,720,000 km (20.1 lunar distances / 0.051577089953623 au) |
| 3-Sigma Minimum Distance | 7,619,163.892 km (19.821 LD) |
| Relative Velocity (v_rel) | 15.5407913457676 km/s (about 2 ISS orbital speeds) |
| Velocity at Infinity (v_inf) | 15.5374668265533 km/s |
| Time Uncertainty (3-sigma) | 00:02 |
| Absolute Magnitude (H) | 24.368 mag |
| Orbit Solution ID | 4 (NASA JPL Small-Body Database) |
| Inside Moon Orbit | No |
| Inside Geostationary Ring | No |
Cite this page
Permanent URL: https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-29/2026-re51/ | Machine-readable twin: index.json
APA:
What Nearly Hit Us Project. (2026). Asteroid (2026 RE51) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-29 16:23. What Nearly Hit Us. Retrieved from https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-29/2026-re51/MLA:
"Asteroid (2026 RE51) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-29 16:23." What Nearly Hit Us, What Nearly Hit Us Project, 2026-09-24, https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-29/2026-re51/.BibTeX:
@misc{approach_2026RE51_202629,
title = {Asteroid (2026 RE51) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-29 16:23},
author = {{What Nearly Hit Us Project}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-29/2026-re51/},
note = {Primary upstream source: NASA/JPL CNEOS CAD API}
}