Asteroid 2026 JM2 passed Earth at a distance of 0.114 LD (0.00029 AU / 43 800 km / 27 200 miles), from the center of our planet at 13:06 UTC on May 7, 2026, becoming the 4th closest known asteroid flyby within 1 lunar distance recorded so far this year. At its closest, the object was about 37 400 km (23 200 miles) above Earth’s surface, about 1 600 km (1 000 miles) outside the altitude used by geostationary satellites.
2026 JM2 is one of 72 known asteroids to pass within 1 lunar distance of Earth in 2026 and the 4th closest so far this year, following 2026 EM, which passed at 0.072 LD on March 7; 2026 HZ4, which passed at 0.077 LD on April 24; and 2026 DN5, which passed at 0.112 LD on February 22.
The object was first observed at JPL SynTrack Robotic Telescope, Auberry, at 07:02 UTC on May 8 — about 17 hours 56 minutes after closest approach.
It belongs to the Aten group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 0.78 and 1.7 m (2.6 to 5.6 feet).
The asteroid flew past us at 13:06 UTC on May 7 at a speed (relative to Earth) of 5.83 km/s (3.62 mi/s).
The current Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) orbit solution is based on 18 observations over a 2-day data arc and has a condition code of 5 on a 0-9 scale, where 9 indicates high orbital uncertainty.
JPL gives the object’s semimajor axis as 0.927856 AU, eccentricity as 0.1582767, inclination as 3.2327°, perihelion distance as 0.780998 AU, and aphelion distance as 1.074714 AU.
References:
1 Asteroid 2026 JM2 – JPL/SSD – Accessed May 12, 2026
2 Asteroid 2026 JM2 – IAU/MPC – Accessed May 12, 2026