PASADENA, USA, Oct. 23, 2026 - The small near-Earth asteroid 2010 VQ^[1] will pass about 4.6 lunar distances from Earth on 12 December 2026.^[2] The object, about 10 metres across,^[3] is on NASA's Sentry impact-monitoring list,^[4] with 20 potential impact dates^[5] between 2087 and 2124.^[6] Its cumulative impact chance is about 1 in 629,^[7] but it rates 0 on the Torino scale, meaning no hazard,^[8] and its Palermo scale value is -4.41,^[9] far below the level that concerns astronomers. No impact is predicted.^[10] The December pass matters because 2010 VQ has gone unobserved for years: it was first seen on 1 November 2010^[11] and last observed on 29 November 2022.^[12] It circles the Sun every 0.80 years^[13] on an Aten-type orbit.^[14] At magnitude 27.2 it is currently far too faint for amateur telescopes.^[15] Impact Insight. Objects on the Sentry list are usually there because their orbits are uncertain, not because they are on course to hit. New observations shrink that uncertainty, and most such objects are removed once every potential impact can be ruled out. A 10-metre asteroid would most likely break up high in the atmosphere, so December's pass is mainly practice in the skill planetary defense depends on: finding and tracking small, faint objects.