Asteroid (2026 RX38)
Closest pass on 2026-Sep-30 18:56 TDB (Julian Date: 2461314.288928171)
Key Facts
- On 2026-Sep-30 18:56, asteroid (2026 RX38) passed Earth at a nominal distance of 3,820,000 km (9.93 lunar distances).
- At closest approach, the object was traveling at 14.3 km/s relative to Earth.
- The object has an estimated size of 32.9 m, which is about 2.5 school buses.
- The miss distance was just under 10 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 | 33 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 RX38 |
|---|---|
| Full Object Name | (2026 RX38) |
| Nominal Miss Distance | 3,820,000 km (9.93 lunar distances / 0.0255043540980698 au) |
| 3-Sigma Minimum Distance | 3,764,297.249 km (9.793 LD) |
| Relative Velocity (v_rel) | 14.315286682257 km/s (about 2 ISS orbital speeds) |
| Velocity at Infinity (v_inf) | 14.307986919913 km/s |
| Time Uncertainty (3-sigma) | 00:05 |
| Absolute Magnitude (H) | 25.169 mag |
| Orbit Solution ID | 3 (NASA JPL Small-Body Database) |
| Inside Moon Orbit | No |
| Inside Geostationary Ring | No |
Cite this page
Permanent URL: https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rx38/ | Machine-readable twin: index.json
APA:
What Nearly Hit Us Project. (2026). Asteroid (2026 RX38) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 18:56. What Nearly Hit Us. Retrieved from https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rx38/MLA:
"Asteroid (2026 RX38) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 18:56." What Nearly Hit Us, What Nearly Hit Us Project, 2026-09-24, https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rx38/.BibTeX:
@misc{approach_2026RX38_202630,
title = {Asteroid (2026 RX38) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 18:56},
author = {{What Nearly Hit Us Project}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-rx38/},
note = {Primary upstream source: NASA/JPL CNEOS CAD API}
}