A Bus-Sized Asteroid Is Approaching Earth on Friday, NASA Says

A bus-sized asteroid passing near Earth sounds like the kind of headline that should trigger panic. But in asteroid science, “near” usually means near by cosmic standards, not close enough to threaten daily life.

The object in question is 2026 KC1, a small near-Earth asteroid that NASA has been tracking as it makes a Friday flyby. Reports based on NASA data describe it as about 27 feet across, moving at roughly 45,522 mph, and passing at around 304,000 miles from Earth — farther than the Moon’s average distance of about 239,000 miles.