A house-size asteroid is heading toward Earth tonight: Here’s what you need to know

A house-size asteroid will make a close pass of Earth and the moon tonight (April 9), passing a little over half the distance to the moon as it buzzes the southern hemisphere at a blistering speed of 28,030 miles per hour (45,109 kilometers per hour).

The asteroid, designated 2026 GD, was discovered on Monday (April 6) and is estimated to be 16 meters (54 feet) in diameter. The solar system wanderer will make its closest approach to Earth at 6:59 p.m. (2259 GMT) on April 9, when it will pass 155,760 miles (250,000 km), or 0.65 lunar distances, while moving at 28,030 miles per hour (45,109 kilometers per hour).

2026 GD will make an even closer approach to the moon a few hours later, at 8:12 p.m. EDT on April 9 (0012 GMT on April 10), passing just 101,000 miles (163,750 km) from the lunar surface while posing no threat to either Earth or its natural satellite.

The asteroid will also pose no threat to the crew of the Artemis 2 lunar mission, which is currently travelling between the moon and Earth ahead of its scheduled parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California on Friday (April 10).

Following the flyby, 2026 GD will continue along a 644-day elliptical path that takes it beyond the orbit of Mars before careening back towards the sun. Its next planetary encounter won’t come until July 2031, when it will travel the equivalent of 25 lunar distances from Venus.

2026 GD’s size and close orbit take it close enough to Earth to warrant a place on the European Space Agency‘s “Risk List” — a catalogue of near-Earth objects that pose a non-zero impact probability. Even so, it poses a cumulative impact probability of just 1/124,378 for orbits that will take it close to Earth between the years 2082 and 2124, according to ESA.