Close Approach Record

Asteroid (2026 RS)

Closest pass on 2026-Sep-30 10:18 TDB (Julian Date: 2461313.929186039)

Key Facts

  • On 2026-Sep-30 10:18, asteroid (2026 RS) passed Earth at a nominal distance of 4,280,000 km (11.1 lunar distances).
  • At closest approach, the object was traveling at 6.02 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 just over 11 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

blue whale 25 m Asteroid 2026 RS about 2 school buses ~25 m Boeing 747 70.6 m
Scale ladder data
Target25 m
Smallerblue whale: 25 m
LargerBoeing 747: 70.6 m

Object size compared to known reference benchmarks.

Miss Distance Orbital Dial

Moon Orbit (1 LD = 384,400 km) 11.1 LD Earth

Concentric orbital rings showing Earth, Moon orbit, and asteroid trajectory.

Astrometric & Orbital Parameters

Designation2026 RS
Full Object Name(2026 RS)
Nominal Miss Distance4,280,000 km (11.1 lunar distances / 0.028606286017173 au)
3-Sigma Minimum Distance4,245,339.982 km (11.044 LD)
Relative Velocity (v_rel)6.01586602116408 km/s (0.785 times the size of a ISS orbital velocity)
Velocity at Infinity (v_inf)6.00036313085862 km/s
Time Uncertainty (3-sigma)< 00:01
Absolute Magnitude (H)25.757 mag
Orbit Solution ID7 (NASA JPL Small-Body Database)
Inside Moon OrbitNo
Inside Geostationary RingNo

Cite this page

Permanent URL: https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rs/ | Machine-readable twin: index.json

APA:
What Nearly Hit Us Project. (2026). Asteroid (2026 RS) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 10:18. What Nearly Hit Us. Retrieved from https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rs/
MLA:
"Asteroid (2026 RS) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 10:18." What Nearly Hit Us, What Nearly Hit Us Project, 2026-09-24, https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rs/.
BibTeX:
@misc{approach_2026RS_202630,
  title = {Asteroid (2026 RS) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 10:18},
  author = {{What Nearly Hit Us Project}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rs/},
  note = {Primary upstream source: NASA/JPL CNEOS CAD API}
}