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At a glance
- Width
- 742 to 1,660 m
- about 6,004 bananas
- Speed
- 17.38 km/s
- 62,555 km/h · 38,870 mph
- Misses us by
- 64.7 lunar
- 24,877,673 km · 15,458,264 miles
- First spotted by us
- 13th November 2026
- 13 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
- 1.52 Earth years (556 days)One lap of the Sun. Your commute is shorter, and so is your patience.
- Eccentricity
- 0.569How squashed the orbit is. 0 is a perfect circle, 1 is "leaving". Very stretched. This rock commutes the long way round.
- Tilt
- 12.8°The angle of its orbit against the flat plane the planets share. Slightly tipsy.
- Closest to the Sun
- 0.57 AU85 million km. One AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun.
- Furthest from the Sun
- 2.08 AU311 million km. Out past Mars.
- Closest orbit-to-orbit gap
- 0.101 AUIf you only compare the two orbits, not where the planets are, they come within 39 lunar distances. The rock is rarely there at the same time as us, which is the entire reason we are still here.
- Observations used
- 1,181NASA has measured this one 1,181 times. It has been stalked thoroughly.
- Watched for
- 23.3 years2003-01-14 to 2026-04-16. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd May 1900 | 69.8 LD · 26,843,256 km | 14.7 km/s |
| 12th November 1918 | 67.1 LD · 25,791,908 km | 16.8 km/s |
| 28th April 1938 | 39.0 LD · 14,992,631 km | 18.2 km/s |
| 19th November 1959 | 61.0 LD · 23,468,372 km | 19.6 km/s |
| 29th April 1976 | 40.9 LD · 15,721,863 km | 17.9 km/s |
| 16th November 1994 | 61.1 LD · 23,504,604 km | 18.3 km/s |
| 22nd April 2008 | 61.3 LD · 23,564,497 km | 22.4 km/s |
| 5th May 2011 | 75.4 LD · 29,009,096 km | 14.4 km/s |
| 14th November 2026 (this one) | 64.7 LD · 24,877,673 km | 17.4 km/s |
| 22nd April 2040 | 63.8 LD · 24,550,972 km | 22.6 km/s |
By the numbers
- Estimated mass
- 642.4 million tonnes to 7.2 billion 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
- 362,816 Olympic poolsSphere volume at the middle width estimate, divided by 2,500 cubic metres per Olympic pool.
- Impact energy, if it hit
- 23,178 megatons to 259,140 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
- 1.6 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
- 0.58 timesDivided by Earth's own orbital speed of 29.78 km/s around the Sun.
- Time to cross the UK
- 55.8 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
- 16.6 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
- 83.0 secondsMiss distance divided by the speed of light.
- Width from brightness alone
- 742 to 1,660 mAstronomers estimate size from how bright an asteroid is (H 17.8) 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
- 15.38,493 days of observation divided by its 556-day year.
- Known close approaches, 1900 to 2200
- 200 inside the Moon's orbit and 0 within ten lunar distances.
- Closest pass in that period
- 38.99 lunar distancesOn 28th April 1938.
- Next visit after this one
- 22nd April 2040At 63.8 lunar distances. Closer than this time.
- Average gap between visits
- 15.2 yearsThe span of the record divided by the number of gaps between approaches.
- Rank by size
- 1 of 45Among every asteroid this site has tracked, biggest first.
- Rank by closeness
- 18 of 45Among every asteroid this site has tracked, using each one's most recent pass, closest first.
- Rank by speed
- 14 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 274138 2008 FU6 hit Earth? Questions answered
Will asteroid 274138 2008 FU6 hit Earth?
No. 274138 2008 FU6 passes Earth on 14th November 2026 at 64.7 lunar distances (24,877,673 km), which is 64.7 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 274138 2008 FU6?
NASA estimates it is between 742 m and 1,660 m wide, which at the top end is about 15.8 football pitches long. Nobody has seen it up close, so the width is an estimate from its brightness.
How fast is asteroid 274138 2008 FU6 travelling?
17.4 km/s relative to Earth at closest approach, about 62,555 km/h (38,870 mph). That is 2.3 times the speed of the International Space Station.
Is 274138 2008 FU6 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. 274138 2008 FU6 has an absolute magnitude of 17.8 and its orbit comes within 0.101 AU of Earth's.
When is asteroid 274138 2008 FU6's next close approach?
After this pass, the next one in NASA's record is on 22nd April 2040, at 63.8 lunar distances.
Unhelpful facts
- Light crosses the gap in 82.98 seconds. That is not enough time to say "what was that".
- In the 16.6 days it takes to fly a gap that size, you could drink 1,193 cups of tea. Most would go cold.
- It could overtake 69 commercial jets, and it would not even signal.
- 4.36 Empire State Buildings tall, if you insist on laying New York on its side.
- 4,667 large pizzas wide. Delivery in thirty minutes or it is free (it will not be free).
- That is 1,295 times the speed limit on a 30 zone. Nobody has fined it yet.
- As fast as 1,398 Usain Bolts at top speed, none of whom have been told.
- At its speed it covers a gap the size of its miss distance in 16.6 days. A group chat would still be picking a restaurant.
- It passes today. Your dog already knows and is not saying anything.
- A snail would need 60,382 years to cover the gap. The snail would take the day off.
- It is moving 178 times faster than a sports car, and has never once paid a congestion charge.
- At this speed it covers the distance to the Moon in 6.1 hours. Your train replacement bus takes longer.