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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Anthony Cuthbertson

Asteroid the size of a blue whale to skim past Earth today – and you can see it

Earth Mars Virtual Telescope Project
An illustration of a whale-sized asteroid. Asteroid 2026 JH2 will pass within 100,000 kilometres of Earth on 18 May, 2026 - (Getty/iStock)

A newly-discovered asteroid will make an unusually close pass of Earth on Monday evening.

Asteroid 2026 JH2, which was only discovered last week by astronomers based at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, will make its closest approach at just after 10pm BST (5pm EDT) on 18 May.

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