NASA has confirmed that three skyscraper-sized asteroids are flying by Earth this week.
The findings were published by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology.
GettyNasa has confirmed that three skyscraper-sized asteroids are flying by Earth this week[/caption]
JPL uncovered the space rocks via its Asteroid Watch dashboard.
One of the rocks (2021 QW) is considered a Near-Earth object (NEO), but the other two (2012 DK31 and 2006 BE55) are classified as “potentially hazardous”.
Nasa explains further: “Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth.
“Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.05 au or less and an absolute magnitude (H) of 22.0 or less are considered PHAs.”
Asteroid 2012 DK31
This space rock, dubbed 2012 DK31, already flew past our planet yesterday (February 27).
It came as close as 3 million miles (4.8 million km) to Earth.
The rock measures around 450 feet in diameter – or a 40-story skyscraper.
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2012 DK31 is currently traveling at speeds of 34,761 miles per hour.
Asteroid 2006 BE55
On Tuesday, Feburary 28, a second PHA will approach our planet’s orbit at around 11pm EST.
It will comes as close 2.2 million miles (3.5 million km) to our planet, according to Nasa.
Asteroid 2006 BE55 also measures around 450 feet in diameter.
The extraterrestrial rock is traveling at a speed of 29,805 miles per hour.
Asteroid 2021 QW
On Friday, March 3, asteroid 2021 QW will approach Earth from a safe distance of 3.3 million miles (5.3 million km).
This space rock, which measures around 250 feet in diameter, will be traveling at speeds of around 27,028 miles per hour.
While the asteroid isn’t large enough to be labeled as a PHA, it still makes a close approach to Earth every few years.