Sky calendar
The next 18 months of things that happen on a date, solved from the ephemeris rather than kept in a list. Almost every one is the same instant for everybody on Earth, so a date here needs no location to be true — what is visible tonight is the list that does depend on where you are standing.
Coming up
] SOONEST FIRST- FLYBYIN 5 DAYS11FRI
(2026 OH3) passes at 12.3 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 146 m and 326 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 12.3 lunar distances out at 20.17 km/s.
- FLYBYIN 11 DAYS17THU
(2026 NT2) passes at 16.1 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 240 m and 536 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.1 lunar distances out at 12.54 km/s.
- FLYBYIN 55 DAYS31SAT
(2025 UK9) passes at 0.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 3 m and 6 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 0.8 lunar distances out at 7.83 km/s.
+WHAT THE EIGHT KINDS ARE
- Eclipses — solar and lunar, with where on Earth each is greatest.
- Meteor showers — dated by where the Earth is in its orbit, not by a fixed calendar day.
- Moon phases — the four quarters, which set what else is worth chasing that fortnight.
- Close pairings — two bright things within a few degrees of each other.
- Oppositions — the night each outer planet is closest, biggest and up all night.
- Elongations — the mornings and evenings Mercury and Venus stand furthest from the Sun.
- Equinoxes and solstices — the four turning points of the year.
- Flybys — near-Earth asteroids passing inside twenty lunar distances.
Hiding what cannot be seen from MAUNA KEA at all. Each month says how many it dropped and why; anything merely low stays on the list, with its altitude.
September 2026
] 2 EVENTS- 11FRIFLYBY--:--
(2026 OH3) passes at 12.3 lunar distances
(2026 OH3), somewhere between 146 m and 326 m across depending on how dark its surface is, makes its closest approach to Earth at 12.3 lunar distances (4.7 million km), moving past at 20.17 km/s. At magnitude 21.0 it is far below anything an amateur telescope reaches — this one is a fact rather than a sight. A pass at this range is ordinary rather than alarming — it is the reason the object is tracked, not a reason to worry about it.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 20.17 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 12.3 lunar distances — 4 731 952 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 21.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 146 m – 326 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
From MAUNA KEA the hours it is high enough and the hours it is dark do not overlap on this date — it is up in the daytime.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 17THUFLYBY--:--
(2026 NT2) passes at 16.1 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 240 m and 536 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.1 lunar distances out at 12.54 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 12.54 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 16.1 lunar distances — 6 183 442 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 18.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 240 m – 536 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
From MAUNA KEA the hours it is high enough and the hours it is dark do not overlap on this date — it is up in the daytime.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
October 2026
] 1 EVENT- 31SATFLYBY--:--
(2025 UK9) passes at 0.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 3 m and 6 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 0.8 lunar distances out at 7.83 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 7.83 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 0.8 lunar distances — 314 823 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 20.1 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 3 m – 6 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 65° above the SE horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
November 2026
] 2 EVENTS- 2MONFLYBY--:--
524522 Zoozve (2002 VE68) passes at 15.7 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 207 m and 464 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 15.7 lunar distances out at 8.72 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 8.72 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 15.7 lunar distances — 6 018 535 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 207 m – 464 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 53° above the N horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 6FRIFLYBY--:--
(2001 KF54) passes at 18.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 293 m and 655 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 18.8 lunar distances out at 16.42 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 16.42 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 18.8 lunar distances — 7 243 615 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.9 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 293 m – 655 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 33° above the S horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
December 2026
] 1 EVENT- 8TUEFLYBY--:--
(2016 NV) passes at 14.3 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 284 m and 634 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 14.3 lunar distances out at 10.42 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 10.42 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 14.3 lunar distances — 5 478 070 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.0 — needs a telescope
- SIZE
- 284 m – 634 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 79° above the S horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
January 2027
] 1 EVENT- 28THUFLYBY--:--
(2020 OP3) passes at 7.6 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 172 m and 384 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 7.6 lunar distances out at 16.86 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 16.86 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 7.6 lunar distances — 2 918 357 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 18.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 172 m – 384 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 27° above the SE horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
February 2027
] NOTHING VISIBLE FROM HERE+2 MORE NOT VISIBLE FROM MAUNA KEA
- 2027-02-06Annular solar eclipse — None of it reaches MAUNA KEA: the Moon's shadow crosses a different part of the Earth, and from here the Sun is not touched at all.
- 2027-02-20Penumbral lunar eclipse — The Moon is below the horizon from MAUNA KEA for the whole of it — this one belongs to the other side of the planet.
March 2027
] 3 EVENTS- 4THUFLYBY--:--
474158 (1999 FA) passes at 16.5 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 192 m and 429 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.5 lunar distances out at 6.63 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 6.63 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 16.5 lunar distances — 6 350 271 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 192 m – 429 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 46° above the S horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 4THUFLYBY--:--
535844 (2015 BY310) passes at 9.2 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 111 m and 249 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 9.2 lunar distances out at 8.02 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 8.02 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 9.2 lunar distances — 3 527 630 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.2 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 111 m – 249 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
From MAUNA KEA it never climbs higher than 17° above the horizon, which is a lot of atmosphere to look through.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 18THUFLYBY--:--
506074 Svarog (2015 UM67) passes at 19.0 lunar distances
A body 665 m across, passing 19.0 lunar distances out at 22.41 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 22.41 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.0 lunar distances — 7 308 194 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.2 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 665 m — measured
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 36° above the N horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
June 2027
] 2 EVENTS- 6SUNFLYBY--:--
4953 (1990 MU) passes at 12.0 lunar distances
4953 (1990 MU), somewhere between 2.8 km and 6.3 km across depending on how dark its surface is, makes its closest approach to Earth at 12.0 lunar distances (4.6 million km), moving past at 23.82 km/s. At magnitude 9.9 it is a binocular object, moving fast enough across the stars to watch it move. A pass at this range is ordinary rather than alarming — it is the reason the object is tracked, not a reason to worry about it.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 23.82 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 12.0 lunar distances — 4 612 019 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 9.9 — a binocular object
- SIZE
- 2.8 km – 6.3 km — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 70° above the N horizon.
Bright enough to find, and fast enough that the finding is the sport: it moves against the stars while you watch, so what you are looking for is the one point that will not stay put. Have a chart of the field ready before it arrives.
- 28MONFLYBY--:--
456938 (2007 YV56) passes at 19.6 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 169 m and 379 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 19.6 lunar distances out at 17.79 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 17.79 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.6 lunar distances — 7 530 376 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 17.8 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 169 m – 379 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 70° above the W horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
July 2027
] NOTHING VISIBLE FROM HERE+1 MORE NOT VISIBLE FROM MAUNA KEA
- 2027-07-18Penumbral lunar eclipse — The Moon is below the horizon from MAUNA KEA for the whole of it — this one belongs to the other side of the planet.
August 2027
] 4 EVENTS+1 MORE NOT VISIBLE FROM MAUNA KEA
- 2027-08-02Total solar eclipse — None of it reaches MAUNA KEA: the Moon's shadow crosses a different part of the Earth, and from here the Sun is not touched at all.
- 7SATFLYBY--:--
137108 (1999 AN10) passes at 1.0 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 653 m and 1.5 km across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 1.0 lunar distances out at 26.28 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 26.28 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 1.0 lunar distances — 389 781 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 7.8 — a binocular object
- SIZE
- 653 m – 1.5 km — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 89° above the S horizon.
Bright enough to find, and fast enough that the finding is the sport: it moves against the stars while you watch, so what you are looking for is the one point that will not stay put. Have a chart of the field ready before it arrives.
- 17TUEECLIPSE--:--
Penumbral lunar eclipse
The Moon passes through the soft outer edge of Earth's shadow, not the dark core of it. The whole disc dims slightly and unevenly — enough to notice in a photograph taken before and after, and easy to miss by eye.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 58° above the S horizon.
Nothing needed at all: a lunar eclipse is safe to watch with your eyes, and binoculars mostly add colour. It is slow — over an hour from first shadow to deepest — so it rewards going out more than once rather than standing outside for the whole of it.
- 19THUFLYBY--:--
(2017 QW17) passes at 17.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 126 m and 281 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 17.8 lunar distances out at 19.86 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 19.86 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 17.8 lunar distances — 6 833 077 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 17.4 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 126 m – 281 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
From MAUNA KEA it never climbs higher than 12° above the horizon, which is a lot of atmosphere to look through.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 29SUNFLYBY--:--
826799 (2023 OE6) passes at 16.7 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 285 m and 637 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 16.7 lunar distances out at 25.21 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 25.21 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 16.7 lunar distances — 6 419 848 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.5 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 285 m – 637 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 48° above the SW horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
October 2027
] 2 EVENTS+1 MORE NOT VISIBLE FROM MAUNA KEA
- 2027-10-27250680 (2005 QC5) passes at 18.9 lunar distances — It never comes above the horizon from MAUNA KEA around this date — at this latitude it stays below it all day.
- 16SATFLYBY--:--
(2026 AT6) passes at 19.9 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 267 m and 597 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 19.9 lunar distances out at 10.56 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 10.56 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.9 lunar distances — 7 650 309 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 14.7 — needs a telescope
- SIZE
- 267 m – 597 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 80° above the S horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 29FRIFLYBY--:--
453707 (2010 XY72) passes at 18.7 lunar distances
A body 495 m across, passing 18.7 lunar distances out at 18.03 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 18.03 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 18.7 lunar distances — 7 180 573 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 23.0 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 495 m — measured
From MAUNA KEA the hours it is high enough and the hours it is dark do not overlap on this date — it is up in the daytime.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
November 2027
] 3 EVENTS- 2TUEFLYBY--:--
(2017 QL33) passes at 8.1 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 143 m and 321 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 8.1 lunar distances out at 7.82 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 7.82 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 8.1 lunar distances — 3 110 557 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 15.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 143 m – 321 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 31° above the N horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 13SATFLYBY--:--
(2024 TW17) passes at 2.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 118 m and 264 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 2.8 lunar distances out at 20.9 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 20.9 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 2.8 lunar distances — 1 066 323 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 14.2 — needs a telescope
- SIZE
- 118 m – 264 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
From MAUNA KEA the hours it is high enough and the hours it is dark do not overlap on this date — it is up in the daytime.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
- 28SUNFLYBY--:--
(2019 UT6) passes at 13.2 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 111 m and 248 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 13.2 lunar distances out at 11.79 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 11.79 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 13.2 lunar distances — 5 084 446 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 18.5 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 111 m – 248 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 30° above the S horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
December 2027
] 1 EVENT- 18SATFLYBY--:--
745311 (2010 XC15) passes at 19.8 lunar distances
A body somewhere between 134 m and 301 m across depending on how dark its surface is, passing 19.8 lunar distances out at 8.89 km/s.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- SPEED
- 8.89 km/s — relative to Earth at closest approach
- MISS DISTANCE
- 19.8 lunar distances — 7 620 326 km
- BRIGHTNESS
- magnitude 16.6 — far below anything an amateur telescope reaches
- SIZE
- 134 m – 301 m — from its brightness, the range covering a reflective surface and a sooty one
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 62° above the S horizon.
This is a fact rather than a sight — far below what an amateur telescope reaches. It is listed because it is the kind of pass the surveys exist to catch, and because a calendar that only showed the visible ones would suggest the invisible ones are not happening.
January 2028
] 1 EVENT+1 MORE NOT VISIBLE FROM MAUNA KEA
- 2028-01-26Annular solar eclipse — None of it reaches MAUNA KEA: the Moon's shadow crosses a different part of the Earth, and from here the Sun is not touched at all.
- 12WEDECLIPSE--:--
Partial lunar eclipse
Earth's shadow crosses 3% of the Moon's disc at the deepest point, over about 58 minutes — a clean curved bite out of a full moon, obvious to the naked eye and to a phone camera. Visible from wherever the Moon is above the horizon at the time.
+WHAT TO EXPECTCLOSE
- COVERED
- 3% — of the disc, at the point where the eclipse is greatest
- DEEPEST PHASE
- 58 min
FROM MAUNA KEA — worth being outside between --:-- and --:--, when it is both dark and more than 20° up. It is highest at --:--, 88° above the N horizon.
Nothing needed at all: a lunar eclipse is safe to watch with your eyes, and binoculars mostly add colour. It is slow — over an hour from first shadow to deepest — so it rewards going out more than once rather than standing outside for the whole of it.
23 events for the 18 months from today, of the kinds selected above, of which every one can be seen from MAUNA KEA. Times are instants, shown on your own clock; how every number here was made.
Nothing here is a hand-kept list. Every date except the flybys is solved from the same ephemeris the rest of the site uses to place the planets, at the moment you load the page; a meteor shower is dated by the longitude the Sun reaches rather than by a day of the month, which is why its date moves a little from year to year. The same events are available as JSON and CSV.
The 38 close approaches come from NASA/JPL Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, as they stood on 2026-08-30, and cover passes inside 20 lunar distances from 2026-07-31 through 2028-04-01. Unlike everything else on this page they cannot be computed from an ephemeris here — a newly discovered asteroid has no orbit until somebody measures one — so they are as complete as that date and no more.
COMMON QUESTIONS
] 10 ANSWERED- Why is there not an eclipse every month?
- Because the Moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees to the Earth's, so at most new moons its shadow passes above or below us and misses. Eclipses arrive in seasons roughly twice a year, when the two orbital planes happen to line up with the Sun.
- What fixes the date of a meteor shower?
- Where the Earth is in its orbit, not the calendar. A shower is the Earth crossing a stream of dust a comet left behind, so the peak falls at the same point in the orbit every year and drifts by a few hours against the clock — which is why the dates here are solved rather than looked up.
- Why are moon phases on a list of events?
- Because moonlight decides what else is worth chasing. A full moon costs several magnitudes of faint detail across the whole sky, so the fortnight around new moon is when meteors, galaxies and nebulae actually repay the trip outside.
- What is an opposition, and why is it the night to look?
- Opposition is the moment an outer planet sits opposite the Sun from Earth, so it rises at sunset, stands highest at midnight and sets at sunrise. It falls close to the planet's nearest approach as well, which makes it the biggest and brightest that planet gets in the year.
- What are the equinoxes and solstices, exactly?
- The four instants at which the Sun reaches its furthest north, its furthest south, or crosses the celestial equator between the two. They are moments rather than days, and they are the same moment everywhere on Earth — which is why one of them can fall on a different date depending on your time zone.
- How close does a listed flyby come?
- Inside twenty lunar distances, which is about eight million kilometres. That is close by the standards of the Solar System and by no other standard at all: nothing on this list is a hazard, and the orbits are known accurately enough to say so well in advance.
- Do I need to say where I am?
- Not for the dates. An eclipse maximum, a shower peak or an opposition is the same instant everywhere. For whether the event clears your horizon at a sensible hour — and, for a solar eclipse, for whether you are standing inside a track a few hundred kilometres wide — the answer does depend on where you are, and the page will ask if you want it.
- How far ahead can any of this be predicted?
- Centuries, for anything driven by the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets: the ephemeris behind them holds up over far longer than a lifetime, and eclipse dates thousands of years out are routine. Meteor showers are the exception — the dates are firm and the strength is not, because it depends on how the dust happens to be distributed along the stream.
- Why do the times differ by a few minutes from other sources?
- Usually because a different thing is being timed. A shower peak is a broad maximum rather than an instant and different authorities quote it differently; a phase or an eclipse can be given in different time scales. Everything here comes from one ephemeris and is stated in one scale, so the events are at least consistent with each other.
- Can I get these into my own calendar?
- Yes. The whole window is published as a subscribable feed, so the events appear in whatever calendar application you already use and follow the solutions as they are recomputed.