← 2016 ED156All rocks274138 2008 FU6 →
At a glance
- Width
- 289 to 646 m
- about 2,336 bananas
- Speed
- 7.27 km/s
- 26,163 km/h · 16,257 mph
- Misses us by
- 41.5 lunar
- 15,974,992 km · 9,926,397 miles
- First spotted by us
- 13th November 2026
- 56 page views
How far is "close"?
Same gap, ranked against places you have heard of, on a log scale because the Sun is awkwardly far away.
How big is it, really?
NASA only estimates the width, so we show the biggest guess. Log scale again. Everest is just there to make everything else look reasonable.
How fast is it going?
Speed relative to Earth at closest approach. The International Space Station is the fastest thing most of us will ever stand under. This lot would lap it.
If it hit (it will not)
Rough impact energy at the biggest size estimate, assuming solid rock, in tonnes, kilotons and megatons of TNT, which is how everyone who has to do this maths measures it. Treat it as a ballpark. The point stands: no impact is scheduled.
Where it actually lives
A top-down view of the orbit, to scale, with Earth's and Mars's orbits for company. The tilt of the orbit is ignored, so treat the shape as right and the exact position as roughly right. The Sun is the orange dot in the middle.
- Orbit class
- APOApollo: crosses Earth's orbit, but spends most of its time further out than us. The most common troublemaker type.
- Year length
- 1.31 Earth years (478 days)One lap of the Sun. Your commute is shorter, and so is your patience.
- Eccentricity
- 0.193How squashed the orbit is. 0 is a perfect circle, 1 is "leaving". This one is nearly circular and well behaved.
- Tilt
- 12.0°The angle of its orbit against the flat plane the planets share. Slightly tipsy.
- Closest to the Sun
- 0.97 AU145 million km. One AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun.
- Furthest from the Sun
- 1.43 AU213 million km. Never leaves the inner solar system.
- Closest orbit-to-orbit gap
- 0.105 AUIf you only compare the two orbits, not where the planets are, they come within 41 lunar distances. The rock is rarely there at the same time as us, which is the entire reason we are still here.
- Observations used
- 516NASA has measured this one 516 times. It has been stalked thoroughly.
- Watched for
- 24.9 years2001-12-09 to 2026-11-10. Long enough to know it well.
- Orbit uncertainty
- 0 out of 90 means we know exactly where it is going. 9 means a shrug. Lower is better.
Is it actually hazardous?
This one fails at least one test, so it is not on the list. It is comfortably, boringly harmless.
Not on NASA's Sentry impact-risk watch list. No further action, no thoughts, head empty.
Its history with us
Every known pass this rock makes, 1900 to 2200. Dim dots are the past, green dots are still to come, the big orange ring is this one. The dashed line is the Moon's distance, so anything below it is closer than the Moon. Almost nothing is.
| Date | Miss distance | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 15th April 2010 | 72.2 LD · 27,770,925 km | 6.5 km/s |
| 14th November 2026 (this one) | 41.5 LD · 15,974,992 km | 7.3 km/s |
| 8th April 2027 | 56.0 LD · 21,539,743 km | 6.7 km/s |
| 11th November 2043 | 49.4 LD · 18,982,057 km | 6.7 km/s |
| 3rd April 2044 | 48.3 LD · 18,568,387 km | 7.1 km/s |
| 3rd November 2060 | 67.9 LD · 26,116,990 km | 6.5 km/s |
| 1st April 2061 | 50.6 LD · 19,441,077 km | 8.1 km/s |
| 16th November 2098 | 46.2 LD · 17,782,821 km | 8.3 km/s |
| 15th April 2099 | 70.8 LD · 27,243,302 km | 6.5 km/s |
| 15th November 2115 | 42.4 LD · 16,304,458 km | 7.2 km/s |
By the numbers
- Estimated mass
- 37.8 million tonnes to 422.9 million tonnesVolume of a sphere at NASA's smallest and largest width estimates, times 3,000 kg per cubic metre (typical rock). Real shapes are lumpier, so treat it as a ballpark.
- Swimming pools of rock
- 21,364 Olympic poolsSphere volume at the middle width estimate, divided by 2,500 cubic metres per Olympic pool.
- Impact energy, if it hit
- 239 megatons to 2,669 megatonsHalf mass times speed squared, at the small and large width estimates, converted to TNT (1 kiloton is 4.184 trillion joules). A rock this far away is not going to do this.
- Speed against escape velocity
- 0.6 timesIts speed relative to Earth, divided by the 11.186 km/s needed to leave Earth's gravity. It is travelling a lot faster than we can throw things.
- Speed against Earth in orbit
- 0.24 timesDivided by Earth's own orbital speed of 29.78 km/s around the Sun.
- Time to cross the UK
- 133.5 secondsLand's End to John o' Groats is about 970 km in a straight line. Divided by its speed.
- Time to fly the miss distance
- 25.4 daysThe miss distance divided by its speed. This is how long it needs to cover a gap of that size, which is a measure of how near or far the pass is.
- Light takes to cross the gap
- 53.3 secondsMiss distance divided by the speed of light.
- Width from brightness alone
- 289 to 646 mAstronomers estimate size from how bright an asteroid is (H 19.8) and how reflective it is. A shiny rock (albedo 0.25) is smaller than a dark one (0.05) for the same brightness. NASA's own estimate above uses the same idea.
- Laps of the Sun since first spotted
- 19.09,102 days of observation divided by its 478-day year.
- Known close approaches, 1900 to 2200
- 280 inside the Moon's orbit and 0 within ten lunar distances.
- Closest pass in that period
- 40.72 lunar distancesOn 13th November 1937.
- Next visit after this one
- 8th April 2027At 56.0 lunar distances. No closer than this time.
- Average gap between visits
- 10.7 yearsThe span of the record divided by the number of gaps between approaches.
- Rank by size
- 5 of 45Among every asteroid this site has tracked, biggest first.
- Rank by closeness
- 9 of 45Among every asteroid this site has tracked, using each one's most recent pass, closest first.
- Rank by speed
- 42 of 45Among every asteroid this site has tracked, fastest first.
How reliable are these?
Width, speed, miss distance and orbit come straight from NASA. Mass, energy, volume and the rankings are our own arithmetic on top, and the assumptions are written beside each one. NASA publishes a range for width because nobody has seen most of these rocks up close, so wherever we show one number it uses the biggest estimate and says so.
Will asteroid 218017 2001 XV266 hit Earth? Questions answered
Will asteroid 218017 2001 XV266 hit Earth?
No. 218017 2001 XV266 passes Earth on 14th November 2026 at 41.5 lunar distances (15,974,992 km), which is 41.5 times the distance to the Moon. It is not on NASA's potentially hazardous list. It is not on NASA's Sentry impact-risk watch list.
How big is asteroid 218017 2001 XV266?
NASA estimates it is between 289 m and 646 m wide, which at the top end is about 6.1 football pitches long. Nobody has seen it up close, so the width is an estimate from its brightness.
How fast is asteroid 218017 2001 XV266 travelling?
7.3 km/s relative to Earth at closest approach, about 26,163 km/h (16,257 mph). That is 0.9 times the speed of the International Space Station.
Is 218017 2001 XV266 a potentially hazardous asteroid?
No. NASA gives the label to asteroids whose orbit comes within 0.05 astronomical units of Earth's (about 7.5 million km) and which are bigger than roughly 140 m. 218017 2001 XV266 has an absolute magnitude of 19.8 and its orbit comes within 0.105 AU of Earth's.
When is asteroid 218017 2001 XV266's next close approach?
After this pass, the next one in NASA's record is on 8th April 2027, at 56.0 lunar distances.
Unhelpful facts
- 2,690 basketballs wide. Somebody in the NBA has already asked for the numbers.
- Light crosses the gap in 53.29 seconds. That is not enough time to say "what was that".
- 1,815 large pizzas wide. Delivery in thirty minutes or it is free (it will not be free).
- As fast as 585 Usain Bolts at top speed, none of whom have been told.
- A UK train would take 18.2 years to cross the same gap, plus delays "due to a train being late".
- Misses by 41.5 times the distance to the Moon. The Moon has not filed a complaint.
- If this one did hit Earth, your next meeting would be cancelled. Look on the bright side.
- Line up 107 elephants to match its width. The elephants would like to be consulted first.
- About 6.1 football pitches long. Still no better than a mid-table side.
- A snail would need 38,774 years to cover the gap. The snail would take the day off.
- Roughly 993 car tyres wide. Check the tread before you worry about the rock.
- Flying a gap that size takes it 25.4 days, which is 1,831 twenty-minute naps. Recommended.