Asteroid 2026 JV3 passed Earth at a distance of 0.130 lunar distances (0.00034 AU / 50 900 km / 31 600 miles) from the center of our planet at 22:59 UTC on May 14, 2026, becoming the 6th closest known asteroid flyby within 1 LD recorded so far this year. Its closest point was about 44 500 km (27 700 miles) above Earth’s surface.
2026 JV3 is one of 75 known asteroids to pass within 1 LD of Earth in 2026. Based on nominal LD distance, it ranks as the 6th closest known asteroid flyby within 1 LD recorded so far this year.
The object was first observed at Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona at 09:05 UTC on May 14 — about 13 hours and 54 minutes before closest approach.
The object belongs to the Apollo group of near-Earth asteroids. It has an estimated diameter of 2.1 to 4.6 m (6.9 to 15 feet) and an absolute magnitude of 30.6.
Data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) show the asteroid’s relative velocity at close approach was 12.69 km/s.
The current Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) orbit solution is based on 30 observations over a 1-day data arc and has a condition code of 6 on a scale from 0 to 9, where 0 indicates a well-determined orbit and 9 indicates very high orbital uncertainty.
References:
1 Asteroid 2026 JV3 – JPL/SSD – Accessed May 15, 2026
2 Asteroid 2026 JV3 – IAU/MPC – Accessed May 15, 2026