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At a glance
- Width
- 151 to 337 m
- about 1,220 bananas
- Speed
- 22.99 km/s
- 82,779 km/h · 51,436 mph
- Misses us by
- 187.1 lunar
- 71,959,155 km · 44,713,332 miles
- First spotted by us
- 13th November 2026
- 4 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
- AMOAmor: approaches Earth's orbit without ever crossing it. Looks threatening. Isn't.
- Year length
- 1.63 Earth years (595 days)One lap of the Sun. Your commute is shorter, and so is your patience.
- Eccentricity
- 0.095How squashed the orbit is. 0 is a perfect circle, 1 is "leaving". This one is nearly circular and well behaved.
- Tilt
- 44.3°The angle of its orbit against the flat plane the planets share. Properly tilted. It mostly visits from above or below.
- Closest to the Sun
- 1.25 AU187 million km. One AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun.
- Furthest from the Sun
- 1.52 AU227 million km. Never leaves the inner solar system.
- Closest orbit-to-orbit gap
- 0.268 AUIf you only compare the two orbits, not where the planets are, they come within 104 lunar distances. The rock is rarely there at the same time as us, which is the entire reason we are still here.
- Observations used
- 88NASA has measured this one 88 times. It has been stalked thoroughly.
- Watched for
- 15.5 years2008-11-17 to 2024-05-30. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 18th November 1995 | 109.0 LD · 41,915,303 km | 21.9 km/s |
| 18th November 2008 | 106.8 LD · 41,091,124 km | 22.0 km/s |
| 20th May 2011 | 193.6 LD · 74,439,246 km | 20.7 km/s |
| 19th November 2021 | 130.1 LD · 50,016,940 km | 22.5 km/s |
| 18th November 2026 (this one) | 187.1 LD · 71,959,155 km | 23.0 km/s |
| 19th November 2034 | 168.3 LD · 64,742,159 km | 23.3 km/s |
| 18th November 2039 | 145.9 LD · 56,121,319 km | 22.3 km/s |
| 18th November 2052 | 115.0 LD · 44,229,411 km | 22.0 km/s |
| 18th November 2065 | 104.4 LD · 40,161,714 km | 22.0 km/s |
| 19th November 2078 | 119.2 LD · 45,854,390 km | 22.3 km/s |
By the numbers
- Estimated mass
- 5.4 million tonnes to 60.3 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
- 3,046 Olympic poolsSphere volume at the middle width estimate, divided by 2,500 cubic metres per Olympic pool.
- Impact energy, if it hit
- 341 megatons to 3,809 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
- 2.1 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
- 0.77 timesDivided by Earth's own orbital speed of 29.78 km/s around the Sun.
- Time to cross the UK
- 42.2 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
- 36.2 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
- 240.0 secondsMiss distance divided by the speed of light.
- Width from brightness alone
- 151 to 337 mAstronomers estimate size from how bright an asteroid is (H 21.2) 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
- 9.55,673 days of observation divided by its 595-day year.
- Known close approaches, 1900 to 2200
- 340 inside the Moon's orbit and 0 within ten lunar distances.
- Closest pass in that period
- 104.43 lunar distancesOn 18th November 2065.
- Next visit after this one
- 19th November 2034At 168.3 lunar distances. Closer than this time.
- Average gap between visits
- 8.7 yearsThe span of the record divided by the number of gaps between approaches.
- Rank by size
- 11 of 42Among every asteroid this site has tracked, biggest first.
- Rank by closeness
- 40 of 42Among every asteroid this site has tracked, using each one's most recent pass, closest first.
- Rank by speed
- 3 of 42Among 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 2008 WB hit Earth? Questions answered
Will asteroid 2008 WB hit Earth?
No. 2008 WB passes Earth on 18th November 2026 at 187.1 lunar distances (71,959,155 km), which is 187.1 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 2008 WB?
NASA estimates it is between 151 m and 337 m wide, which at the top end is about 3.2 football pitches long. Nobody has seen it up close, so the width is an estimate from its brightness.
How fast is asteroid 2008 WB travelling?
23.0 km/s relative to Earth at closest approach, about 82,779 km/h (51,436 mph). That is 3.0 times the speed of the International Space Station.
Is 2008 WB 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. 2008 WB has an absolute magnitude of 21.2 and its orbit comes within 0.268 AU of Earth's.
When is asteroid 2008 WB's next close approach?
After this pass, the next one in NASA's record is on 18th November 2026, at 187.1 lunar distances.
Unhelpful facts
- A UK train would take 82.1 years to cross the same gap, plus delays "due to a train being late".
- It is moving 236 times faster than a sports car, and has never once paid a congestion charge.
- It could overtake 91 commercial jets, and it would not even signal.
- Flying a gap that size takes it 36.2 days, which is 2,607 twenty-minute naps. Recommended.
- A jet would have to circle Earth 1,795 times to cover the gap. Baggage still lost.
- Line up 56 elephants to match its width. The elephants would like to be consulted first.
- About 963 wheels of Gouda across. A brave scientist would call that a dairy event.
- About 3.2 football pitches long. Still no better than a mid-table side.
- If this one did hit Earth, your next meeting would be cancelled. Look on the bright side.
- 948 large pizzas wide. Delivery in thirty minutes or it is free (it will not be free).
- Misses by 187.1 times the distance to the Moon. The Moon has not filed a complaint.
- A snail would need 174,657 years to cover the gap. The snail would take the day off.