This big asteroid was discovered less than a fortnight before its flyby Earth. But any time you see a headline about asteroids flying by the planet, you can relax. Big and small asteroids fly by Earth all the time.
Picture the scene: An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth. It's the size of the Eiffel Tower, shaped like a peanut and potentially hazardous — sounds scary, right?
Take asteroid 2026 JH2. It was first detected on May 10, 2026. And was due to flyby Earth eight days later — at a distance of less than a quarter of the distance between Earth and our moon. It's still very unlikely to hit Earth. But media coverage was everywhere.
Such scare stories crop up all the time.
In 2024, it was because of asteroid 2024 ON — it didn't miss us — because it was never going to hit.
