At a glance
- Width
- 67 to 150 m
- about 542 bananas
- Speed
- 6.08 km/s
- 21,882 km/h · 13,597 mph
- Misses us by
- 152.7 lunar
- 58,726,203 km · 36,490,759 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
- 1.42 Earth years (518 days)One lap of the Sun. Your commute is shorter, and so is your patience.
- Eccentricity
- 0.122How squashed the orbit is. 0 is a perfect circle, 1 is "leaving". This one is nearly circular and well behaved.
- Tilt
- 6.3°The angle of its orbit against the flat plane the planets share. Slightly tipsy.
- Closest to the Sun
- 1.11 AU166 million km. One AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun.
- Furthest from the Sun
- 1.42 AU212 million km. Never leaves the inner solar system.
- Closest orbit-to-orbit gap
- 0.146 AUIf you only compare the two orbits, not where the planets are, they come within 57 lunar distances. The rock is rarely there at the same time as us, which is the entire reason we are still here.
- Observations used
- 53NASA has measured this one 53 times. It has been stalked thoroughly.
- Watched for
- 6.5 years2016-10-09 to 2023-04-24. Not long, so the orbit is still being refined and the rock is still a bit of a stranger.
- Orbit uncertainty
- 2 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 13th January 1969 | 173.1 LD · 66,585,687 km | 6.8 km/s |
| 19th May 1972 | 63.2 LD · 24,291,006 km | 2.5 km/s |
| 29th November 1975 | 164.7 LD · 63,345,324 km | 6.5 km/s |
| 2nd March 1979 | 138.6 LD · 53,307,525 km | 5.8 km/s |
| 2nd October 1982 | 106.8 LD · 41,069,107 km | 4.6 km/s |
| 12th January 1986 | 173.8 LD · 66,852,399 km | 6.8 km/s |
| 13th May 1989 | 66.5 LD · 25,555,579 km | 2.7 km/s |
| 25th November 1992 | 162.7 LD · 62,568,106 km | 6.4 km/s |
| 27th February 1996 | 143.1 LD · 55,036,717 km | 5.9 km/s |
| 26th September 1999 | 99.5 LD · 38,260,667 km | 4.3 km/s |
By the numbers
- Estimated mass
- 474,007 tonnes to 5.3 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
- 268 Olympic poolsSphere volume at the middle width estimate, divided by 2,500 cubic metres per Olympic pool.
- Impact energy, if it hit
- 2.1 megatons to 23 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
- 0.5 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
- 0.20 timesDivided by Earth's own orbital speed of 29.78 km/s around the Sun.
- Time to cross the UK
- 159.6 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
- 111.8 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
- 195.9 secondsMiss distance divided by the speed of light.
- Width from brightness alone
- 67 to 150 mAstronomers estimate size from how bright an asteroid is (H 23.0) 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
- 4.62,388 days of observation divided by its 518-day year.
- Known close approaches, 1900 to 2200
- 890 inside the Moon's orbit and 0 within ten lunar distances.
- Closest pass in that period
- 61.68 lunar distancesOn 15th August 2084.
- Next visit after this one
- 13th February 2030At 155.7 lunar distances. No closer than this time.
- Average gap between visits
- 3.4 yearsThe span of the record divided by the number of gaps between approaches.
- Rank by size
- 20 of 42Among every asteroid this site has tracked, biggest first.
- Rank by closeness
- 28 of 42Among every asteroid this site has tracked, using each one's most recent pass, closest first.
- Rank by speed
- 40 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 2016 TR55 hit Earth? Questions answered
Will asteroid 2016 TR55 hit Earth?
No. 2016 TR55 passes Earth on 13th November 2026 at 152.7 lunar distances (58,726,203 km), which is 152.7 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 2016 TR55?
NASA estimates it is between 67 m and 150 m wide, which at the top end is about 1.4 football pitches long. Nobody has seen it up close, so the width is an estimate from its brightness.
How fast is asteroid 2016 TR55 travelling?
6.1 km/s relative to Earth at closest approach, about 21,882 km/h (13,597 mph). That is 0.8 times the speed of the International Space Station.
Is 2016 TR55 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. 2016 TR55 has an absolute magnitude of 23.0 and its orbit comes within 0.146 AU of Earth's.
When is asteroid 2016 TR55's next close approach?
After this pass, the next one in NASA's record is on 13th February 2030, at 155.7 lunar distances.
Unhelpful facts
- 39.26% of the way to the Sun. Nobody is cancelling summer.
- A UK train would take 67.0 years to cross the same gap, plus delays "due to a train being late".
- About 428 wheels of Gouda across. A brave scientist would call that a dairy event.
- 421 large pizzas wide. Delivery in thirty minutes or it is free (it will not be free).
- Roughly 230 car tyres wide. Check the tread before you worry about the rock.
- 624 basketballs wide. Somebody in the NBA has already asked for the numbers.
- As fast as 489 Usain Bolts at top speed, none of whom have been told.
- At this speed it covers the distance to the Moon in 17.6 hours. Your train replacement bus takes longer.
- Misses by 152.7 times the distance to the Moon. The Moon has not filed a complaint.
- Flying a gap that size takes it 111.8 days, which is 8,051 twenty-minute naps. Recommended.
- It passes today. Your dog already knows and is not saying anything.
- At its speed it covers a gap the size of its miss distance in 111.8 days. A group chat would still be picking a restaurant.