Meet mini-moon 2026 QQ8
Earth’s gravity has temporarily captured a mini-moon, named 2026 QQ8. On October 29, 2026, the Minor Planet Center reported that Krisztián Sárneczky had originally discovered the little space rock near Earth back on August 20, 2026. It seems this object entered orbit around our planet back in April.
There’s no need to worry about a collision: The closest that 2026 QQ8 will get to Earth is 0.0038 astronomical units (AU). That’s about 1 and a half times farther than our actual moon is from us.
The mini-moon is only about 3 feet (1 meter) in size, which wouldn’t do much more than put on a fiery show if it impacted with Earth’s atmosphere anyway.
At first, there was debate over whether the object was of natural origin or a piece of junk, possibly from a rocket or old satellite. So astronomers took follow-up observations with the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope and the Lowell Discovery Telescope. With these additional observations, the Minor Planet Center was able to confirm it’s not space junk. The mini-moon is of natural origin, likely a small asteroid.
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The path of the mini-moon
The mini-moon became temporarily bound to us back in late April. And it should stick with us through December. Then, in 2027, it will continue on its own journey in our solar system.
Looking at the orbital data, astronomers are able to trace its path better. And they discovered that 2026 QQ8 comes close to Earth approximately every 10 years. Back in 1965, it came fairly close, but not quite close enough for a temporary capture. In 2058 it will come close again, but also not quite close enough to regain its mini-moon status.
In these other instances, the little rock does not cross into what astronomers call the Hill sphere or Hill radius. Outside of the Hill sphere, the sun dominates the motions of objects. But in April, 2026 QQ8 passed the Hill sphere of Earth, which is why it is temporarily bound to us.
Its path around Earth is not a nice, neat circle. Below is a gif showing the mini-moon’s unusual orbit around Earth, plus our own moon’s orbit.
Other recent mini-moons
It’s not unusual for Earth to temporarily capture a little space rock. Some of the previous mini-moons we’ve had include:
What’s a quasi-moon? A quasi-moon is not truly orbiting Earth. It just looks like it from our perspective. More accurately, a quasi-moon is basically sharing an orbit with us. But that orbit is not exactly the same as ours. It does not always stay ahead or behind us in orbit, so sometimes we see it in front of us and sometimes we see it behind us.
Bottom line: Earth has another new mini-moon! The little space rock 2026 QQ8 entered orbit around Earth back in April and will stay until the end of the year.
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