Lunar distance
One LD is the average Earth–Moon distance: about 384,400 kilometres. It makes an asteroid’s miss distance easier to picture than a very large kilometre value.
LIVE / EARTH'S NEIGHBOURHOOD
TONIGHT'S MOON.
THIS WEEK'S VISITORS.
The Moon changes hour by hour. Asteroids pass every day. This instrument keeps both in view with current astronomical data—not stock illustrations or invented encounters.
INTERACTIVE LUNAR GLOBE
PREPARING SURFACE
—
Identifying surface…
USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
USGS FEATURE RECORD ↗
DRAG TO ROTATE · SCROLL TO ZOOM · CLICK TO IDENTIFY
NASA SVS CURRENT GEOMETRY · USGS / IAU FEATURESLOADING CURRENT HOUR
CURRENT GEOCENTRIC VIEWCONNECTING
01 / MOON PHASE
Calculating…
—% ILLUMINATED
LUNAR AGE—
DISTANCE—
APPARENT DIAMETER—
LIBRATION—
UPCOMING PRIMARY PHASESUSNO · UTC
Receiving ephemeris…
02 / NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS
Close approaches, in perspective.
—OBJECTS · NEXT 7 DAYS
OBJECTAPPROACHEST. DIAMETERVELOCITYMISS DISTANCESTATUS
Receiving orbital encounters from NASA…
WHAT “HAZARDOUS” MEANS
NASA’s potentially hazardous asteroid classification is based on an object’s orbit and size. It does not mean an impact is predicted, and it describes the object rather than the danger posed by this particular pass. Approach times are the JPL service’s one-minute TDB values; miss distance is the encounter measurement to read here.
Estimated size
Diameter is estimated from brightness and an assumed reflectivity. The displayed range is more honest than pretending the asteroid has been directly measured.
Current Moon
The rendering changes every UTC hour and includes phase, libration, apparent size, and detailed terrain derived from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter maps.