2026 JO is the 66th known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance in 2026. Based on rounded LD values, it tied with 2026 AK14 for the 18th closest asteroid flyby recorded so far this year.
The object was first observed at W94 – MAPS, San Pedro de Atacama, at 04:21 UTC on May 8, about 24 hours and 43 minutes before closest approach.
2026 JO belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has a diameter of about 6.5 to 14 m (21 to 46 feet), based on an absolute magnitude of 28.1.
It passed Earth at a relative velocity of 13.66 km/s (8.49 mi/s) at 05:04 UTC on May 9.
JPL’s orbit solution, based on 57 observations over a 1-day data arc, gives a condition code of 6 on a 0-9 scale, where 9 indicates high orbital uncertainty. The orbit has a semimajor axis of 1.4346 AU, a perihelion distance of 0.7725 AU, an aphelion distance of 2.0967 AU, and an orbital period of about 1.72 years.
References:
2 Asteroid 2026 JO – IAU/MPC – Accessed May 10, 2026
3 Asteroid 2026 JO – JPL/SSD – Accessed May 10, 2026