Asteroid (2026 SM12)
Closest pass on 2026-Sep-30 16:07 TDB (Julian Date: 2461314.171270952)
Key Facts
- On 2026-Sep-30 16:07, asteroid (2026 SM12) passed Earth at a nominal distance of 8,970,000 km (23.3 lunar distances).
- At closest approach, the object was traveling at 7.54 km/s relative to Earth.
- The object has an estimated size of 49.4 m, which is just over 4 school buses.
- The miss distance was about 23 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 | 49 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 SM12 |
|---|---|
| Full Object Name | (2026 SM12) |
| Nominal Miss Distance | 8,970,000 km (23.3 lunar distances / 0.0599785357016417 au) |
| 3-Sigma Minimum Distance | 8,759,265.745 km (22.787 LD) |
| Relative Velocity (v_rel) | 7.53848777644317 km/s (about the speed of a ISS orbital velocity) |
| Velocity at Infinity (v_inf) | 7.53259252803428 km/s |
| Time Uncertainty (3-sigma) | 04:04 |
| Absolute Magnitude (H) | 24.283 mag |
| Orbit Solution ID | 1 (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-sm12/ | Machine-readable twin: index.json
APA:
What Nearly Hit Us Project. (2026). Asteroid (2026 SM12) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 16:07. What Nearly Hit Us. Retrieved from https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-sm12/MLA:
"Asteroid (2026 SM12) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 16:07." What Nearly Hit Us, What Nearly Hit Us Project, 2026-09-24, https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-sm12/.BibTeX:
@misc{approach_2026SM12_202630,
title = {Asteroid (2026 SM12) Close Approach on 2026-Sep-30 16:07},
author = {{What Nearly Hit Us Project}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://whatnearlyhitus.com/approaches/2026-Sep-30/2026-sm12/},
note = {Primary upstream source: NASA/JPL CNEOS CAD API}
}