At a glance
- Width
- 97 to 217 m
- about 784 bananas
- Speed
- 12.98 km/s
- 46,744 km/h · 29,045 mph
- Misses us by
- 174.2 lunar
- 67,011,351 km · 41,638,910 miles
- First spotted by us
- 13th November 2026
- 6 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
- 4.02 Earth years (1,470 days)One lap of the Sun. Your commute is shorter, and so is your patience.
- Eccentricity
- 0.545How squashed the orbit is. 0 is a perfect circle, 1 is "leaving". Very stretched. This rock commutes the long way round.
- Tilt
- 14.1°The angle of its orbit against the flat plane the planets share. Slightly tipsy.
- Closest to the Sun
- 1.15 AU172 million km. One AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun.
- Furthest from the Sun
- 3.91 AU585 million km. Out past Mars.
- Closest orbit-to-orbit gap
- 0.164 AUIf you only compare the two orbits, not where the planets are, they come within 64 lunar distances. The rock is rarely there at the same time as us, which is the entire reason we are still here.
- Observations used
- 80NASA has measured this one 80 times. It has been stalked thoroughly.
- Watched for
- 8.1 years2014-10-21 to 2022-11-17. Not long, so the orbit is still being refined and the rock is still a bit of a stranger.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 26th October 2006 | 146.3 LD · 56,265,336 km | 13.3 km/s |
| 31st October 2010 | 100.4 LD · 38,601,939 km | 10.9 km/s |
| 6th November 2014 | 65.8 LD · 25,305,967 km | 9.1 km/s |
| 10th November 2018 | 81.0 LD · 31,160,312 km | 9.3 km/s |
| 14th November 2022 | 115.1 LD · 44,253,210 km | 10.4 km/s |
| 19th November 2026 (this one) | 174.2 LD · 67,011,351 km | 13.0 km/s |
| 3rd December 2086 | 156.7 LD · 60,280,806 km | 14.9 km/s |
| 23rd November 2090 | 95.4 LD · 36,671,166 km | 11.7 km/s |
| 2nd November 2094 | 40.6 LD · 15,623,724 km | 10.3 km/s |
| 15th October 2098 | 122.1 LD · 46,968,716 km | 15.0 km/s |
By the numbers
- Estimated mass
- 1.4 million tonnes to 16.0 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
- 809 Olympic poolsSphere volume at the middle width estimate, divided by 2,500 cubic metres per Olympic pool.
- Impact energy, if it hit
- 29 megatons to 322 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
- 1.2 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
- 0.44 timesDivided by Earth's own orbital speed of 29.78 km/s around the Sun.
- Time to cross the UK
- 74.7 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
- 59.7 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
- 223.5 secondsMiss distance divided by the speed of light.
- Width from brightness alone
- 97 to 217 mAstronomers estimate size from how bright an asteroid is (H 22.2) 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
- 2.02,949 days of observation divided by its 1,470-day year.
- Known close approaches, 1900 to 2200
- 130 inside the Moon's orbit and 0 within ten lunar distances.
- Closest pass in that period
- 36.65 lunar distancesOn 25th October 2149.
- Next visit after this one
- 3rd December 2086At 156.7 lunar distances. Closer than this time.
- Average gap between visits
- 14.8 yearsThe span of the record divided by the number of gaps between approaches.
- Rank by size
- 18 of 42Among every asteroid this site has tracked, biggest first.
- Rank by closeness
- 34 of 42Among every asteroid this site has tracked, using each one's most recent pass, closest first.
- Rank by speed
- 26 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 2014 UO33 hit Earth? Questions answered
Will asteroid 2014 UO33 hit Earth?
No. 2014 UO33 passes Earth on 19th November 2026 at 174.2 lunar distances (67,011,351 km), which is 174.2 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 2014 UO33?
NASA estimates it is between 97 m and 217 m wide, which at the top end is about 2.1 football pitches long. Nobody has seen it up close, so the width is an estimate from its brightness.
How fast is asteroid 2014 UO33 travelling?
13.0 km/s relative to Earth at closest approach, about 46,744 km/h (29,045 mph). That is 1.7 times the speed of the International Space Station.
Is 2014 UO33 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. 2014 UO33 has an absolute magnitude of 22.2 and its orbit comes within 0.164 AU of Earth's.
When is asteroid 2014 UO33's next close approach?
After this pass, the next one in NASA's record is on 19th November 2026, at 174.2 lunar distances.
Unhelpful facts
- A jet would have to circle Earth 1,672 times to cover the gap. Baggage still lost.
- At its speed it covers a gap the size of its miss distance in 59.7 days. A group chat would still be picking a restaurant.
- If this one did hit Earth, your next meeting would be cancelled. Look on the bright side.
- Line up 36 elephants to match its width. The elephants would like to be consulted first.
- It passes in 6 days, which is 42 dog days. Your dog is already nervous, mostly about the post.
- If it did hit, that would release roughly 322 megatons of TNT, assuming solid rock. It will not, so enjoy the number.
- 44.79% of the way to the Sun. Nobody is cancelling summer.
- A snail would need 162,648 years to cover the gap. The snail would take the day off.
- It is moving 133 times faster than a sports car, and has never once paid a congestion charge.
- 903 basketballs wide. Somebody in the NBA has already asked for the numbers.
- Flying a gap that size takes it 59.7 days, which is 4,300 twenty-minute naps. Recommended.
- That is 968 times the speed limit on a 30 zone. Nobody has fined it yet.