2026 QQ8
Earth's mini-moon of 2026. 2026 QQ8, a rock probably about a meter across, is temporarily bound to Earth and passes 3.5 lunar distances away on 13 December.
At a glance
- Next close approach
- Dec 13, 2026 (UTC) · 3.5 lunar distances
- Impact risk
- Not on NASA's impact-risk list
- Kind
- Temporarily captured; whether it completes a full orbit is not yet published[1]Bound to Earth by the orbit integrations in the discovery circular; an orbiter completes at least one revolution, a flyby does not
- Size
- Probably about a meter across[1]Absolute magnitude 31.3, about the same as 2020 CD3, which NASA put at no more than 1 to 2 m
- Captured
- Confirmed bound on 29 October 2026[1]The dates of the capture window are not yet published
- Orbit
- Just inside Earth's orbit around the Sun[2]Semi-major axis 0.989 au, period 359 days, inclination 0.5°; an Aten-class asteroid
- Where it is now
- Near Earth, passing 0.0090 au away on 13 December 2026[2]About 3.5 lunar distances; after that no close pass until December 2058
From discovery to the flyby
- May 1, 2026Close pass[2]0.0077 au from Earth, about 3 lunar distances
- August 18, 2026Closest pass[2]0.0036 au from Earth, about 1.4 lunar distances
- August 19, 2026Discovered[1]Piszkéstető station, Hungary · K. Sárneczky, with a 0.60 m Schmidt telescope
- October 29, 2026Announced as temporarily captured[1]Minor Planet Center circular at 16:50 UTC; no link to any known artificial object
- December 13, 2026Last close pass while bound[2]0.0090 au from Earth, about 3.5 lunar distances
- December 2058Next return[2]0.013 au from Earth, about five lunar distances
2026 QQ8 is Earth's minimoon of 2026.[1] On 29 October 2026 the Minor Planet Center announced that orbit integrations show the object to be temporarily bound to Earth, and that no link to any known artificial object had been found.[1] It is the latest of the five described in the guide Minimoons, which explains what the term means.
Found in August, recognised in October
Krisztián Sárneczky discovered it on 19 August 2026 at the Piszkéstető station in Hungary, with a 0.60 m Schmidt telescope, the night after its closest pass.[1][2] The Minor Planet Center's circular of 29 October 2026, titled as a temporarily captured object, gives its orbit and an absolute magnitude of 31.3.[1] That is about as faint as 2020 CD3, whose circular carried the same title in 2020 and which NASA estimated at no more than 1 to 2 m across, so 2026 QQ8 is probably about a meter wide.[3][4] It is far too faint for any telescope but a professional survey's.
The circular also reports the push of sunlight on it, fitted from its motion as an area-to-mass ratio of about 0.0008 m² per kilogram.[1] That is the test that separates rocks from hollow rocket stages, which the guide describes.
Its passes by Earth
JPL's catalogue lists three close passes in 2026: 0.0077 au on 1 May, about three times the Moon's distance; 0.0036 au on 18 August, about 1.4 times the Moon's distance, the closest; and 0.0090 au on 13 December, about 3.5 times the Moon's distance.[2] After that it lists nothing closer than 0.09 au until December 2058, when it returns to 0.013 au, about five lunar distances.[2]
Around the Sun it moves just inside Earth's orbit, an Aten-class asteroid with a semi-major axis of 0.989 au, a period of 359 days and an orbit tilted only 0.5° to Earth's.[2] Such an orbit is what every known minimoon shares: a path so like Earth's that the two bodies drift past each other slowly enough for Earth's gravity to take hold for a while.[5]
What is not yet known
Two things wait for a published analysis. The first is the kind: a temporarily captured orbiter completes at least one revolution around Earth while bound, a flyby does not, and no paper or agency page has yet said which 2026 QQ8 is.[5] The second is the capture window, the dates on which it became bound and will slip free; the circular states that it is bound, not since when or until when.[1] This page will carry both when a source states them.
Is it dangerous?
No. An object about a meter across does no damage on the ground, as the page on the similar-sized 2020 CD3 explains.[1][4] 2026 QQ8's orbit comes within 0.0038 au of Earth's, which is why it passes so close.[1] If a rock this size ever did meet the atmosphere, it would be a bright meteor, nothing more.
Sources
- [1]IAU Minor Planet Center, MPEC 2026-U95: 2026 QQ8: Temporarily Captured Object — minorplanetcenter.net, retrieved November 4, 2026
- [2]NASA/JPL Small-Body Database, 2026 QQ8 — ssd.jpl.nasa.gov, retrieved November 4, 2026
- [3]IAU Minor Planet Center, MPEC 2020-D104: 2020 CD3: Temporarily Captured Object — minorplanetcenter.net, retrieved November 4, 2026
- [4]NASA/JPL Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, Tiny Object Discovered in Distant Orbit Around the Earth — cneos.jpl.nasa.gov, retrieved November 4, 2026
- [5]Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, Earth's Minimoons: Opportunities for Science and Technology — doi.org, retrieved November 4, 2026
Related
- Minimoons: Earth's temporary second moonsMini-moons are small asteroids that Earth's gravity holds for weeks or years before they slip away. What they are, how they are found, and the ones we know.
- 2006 RH120The first mini-moon ever found. A few meters across, 2006 RH120 was captured by Earth in mid-2006, looped around us for about a year and left in mid-2007.
- 2020 CD3The best-studied mini-moon. 2020 CD3, a rock about 1.2 m across, orbited Earth from September 2017 to March 2020 and was found only in its last weeks.
- 2022 NX1A mini-moon that keeps coming back. 2022 NX1 was briefly bound to Earth in January 1981 and June 2022, and is due to return as an orbiter in December 2051.
- 2024 PT5The mini-moon of autumn 2024. A rock about 10 m across, 2024 PT5 was bound to Earth from 29 September to 25 November 2024 and is probably a piece of the Moon.
- From discovery to defenseHow a moving speck of light becomes a named asteroid with a known orbit, and who acts if one is ever found on a collision course.