Newly discovered 115-feet wide asteroid 2026 JH2 to fly past earth today; Can we spot it?

Asteroid 2026 JH2 will be soaring across Earth's atmosphere on Monday (May 18), passing closer to the Earth than many of its predecessors. Data states that it may be closer to us than the moon.

It is estimated to be up to 115 feet wide, as reported by LiveScience. The object does not pose any threat to the planet, and people will be able to see it with a good pair of binoculars or stargazing telescopes.

2026 JH2 was discovered on May 10 by Mount Lemmon Observatory's astronomers in Tucson, Arizona. It was a part of Catalina Sky Survey, a sky-survey programme.

It is under a group called the Apollo asteroids, which is a set of Near-Earth Asteroids whose orbits around the Sun cross the Earth's orbit.

According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory data, 2026 JH2 is expected to pass Earth at a distance of roughly 0.0006 astronomical units (AU) i.e. approximately 90,000 kilometres from Earth.

A reason for this discovery having spotlight in the space forums is related to how recent its presence in our system occurred, just 8 days before its flyby.

The Virtual Telescope Project, an organisation dedicated to astronomical finds, is expected to stream the observations live for viewers worldwide.