{"id":480028,"date":"2026-02-17T06:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/480028\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T06:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:47:12","slug":"nasa-tracking-car-sized-asteroid-approaching-earth-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/480028\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Tracking Car-Sized Asteroid Approaching Earth Tomorrow\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0currently\u00a0tracking a\u00a0car-sized asteroid\u00a0set to zip\u00a0past the\u00a0Earth<\/a>\u00a0tomorrow, February 17,\u00a0at\u00a0a whopping\u00a012,616\u00a0miles per hour.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The space<\/a> rock,\u00a02026\u00a0CR2,\u00a0is estimated to be about\u00a09.7\u00a0feet across and will make its closest approach at\u00a0a distance of\u00a084,800\u00a0miles, according to\u00a0NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).\u00a0<\/p>\n

More\u00a0asteroids<\/a>\u00a0are expected to zoom past the Earth\u00a0this week.\u00a0Today, a\u00a0stadium-sized asteroid known as 2026 BX4, will make its closest approach at\u00a0a much larger distance of\u00a01,830,000\u00a0miles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Tuesday, a second asteroid, this time\u00a0airplane-sized,\u00a0known as\u00a02026\u00a0AJ17,\u00a0will pass within\u00a04,140,000\u00a0miles. Meanwhile on\u00a0Wednesday,\u00a0another\u00a0plane-sized space rock, 2026\u00a0CU,\u00a0will come as close as\u00a01,290,000\u00a0miles distant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Thursday, a\u00a0third\u00a0plane-sized asteroid, 2026\u00a0CA2,\u00a0110\u00a0feet across, will get up to 2,630,000\u00a0miles\u00a0from\u00a0our planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While small asteroids measuring up to 30 feet across\u00a0impact\u00a0the\u00a0Earth roughly once every ten years, these\u00a0collisions\u00a0usually result in a\u00a0bright fireball<\/a>\u00a0and a powerful sonic boom and may occasionally break a window, but they\u00a0generally do\u00a0not cause\u00a0any significant damage.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February 2025, an asteroid estimated to be between 174 and 220 feet in size\u2014“2024 YR4”<\/a>\u2014was calculated to have a 3.1 percent chance of striking Earth in 2032, which was described as “the highest impact probability NASA has ever recorded for an object of this size or larger.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

An asteroid of this size could destroy an entire city if it impacted Earth. However, updated calculations\u00a0indicate\u00a0that an Earth impact is very unlikely, and some scientists now suggest that\u00a02024 YR4\u00a0may instead be on its path to\u00a0possibly collide\u00a0with the Moon in December 2032.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Asteroid 2024 YR4 is now too far away to observe with either space or ground-based telescopes. NASA expects to make further observations when the asteroid’s orbit around the Sun brings it back into the vicinity of Earth in 2028,” NASA said on their website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scientists and volunteers around the world work together to\u00a0monitor\u00a0asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Any information received is then collected and verified\u00a0by\u00a0the Minor Planet\u00a0Center, based at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.\u00a0These observations are made publicly available through\u00a0NASA\u2019s Small Bodies Node, ensuring\u00a0open access\u00a0to critical information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When a newly discovered object appears to travel near Earth\u2019s orbit, it is flagged for\u00a0additional\u00a0monitoring. Scientists track these\u00a0near-Earth objects<\/a>\u00a0closely to\u00a0determine\u00a0their paths.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If an object\u2019s trajectory raises concern, the\u00a0Center\u00a0for Near Earth Object Studies conducts detailed calculations and alerts NASA\u2019s Planetary\u00a0Defense\u00a0Coordination Office\u00a0to\u00a0refine impact predictions\u00a0with\u00a0analysis and international collaboration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you have a tip on a science story that\u00a0Newsweek\u00a0should be covering? Do you have a question about asteroids? Let us know via\u00a0science@newsweek.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA\u00a0is\u00a0currently\u00a0tracking a\u00a0car-sized asteroid\u00a0set to zip\u00a0past the\u00a0Earth\u00a0tomorrow, February 17,\u00a0at\u00a0a whopping\u00a012,616\u00a0miles per hour.\u00a0\u00a0 The space rock,\u00a02026\u00a0CR2,\u00a0is estimated to be about\u00a09.7\u00a0feet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[20914,49,48,1677,307,27097,66,306,19727],"class_list":["post-480028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-asteroids","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-earth","tag-nasa","tag-near-earth-objects","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}