5 asteroids to pass by Earth this week — including 1 as big as a houseBy Alex Mitchell
Published Sep. 6, 2023
Things are going to get a bit rocky.
A house-sized asteroid is set to soar by Earth Wednesday, with four other space rocks slated to follow in the coming days, according to NASA’s Asteroid Watch Dashboard.
The near-60-foot big fella, named JA5, was discovered in 2021 and is expected to miss Earth by 3.17 million miles.
NASA defines “potentially hazardous objects” (PHO) as asteroids and comets larger than 500 feet that are predicted to come within 4.7 million miles of Earth.
The other four asteroids range from 26 to 170 feet, with NASA describing their sizes as “airplanes” or “buses.”
On Friday, the 83-foot airplane-sized QC5 will zip past Earth at a distance of about 2.53 million miles, as will the lesser, 26-foot 2020 GE from 3.56 million miles away.
Then come Sunday, QE8 — the largest and closest of them all — is predicted to come less than a million miles from Earth.
That whopping, 170-foot asteroid is on path to soar 946,000 miles from Earth’s approach, as will QF6 — a 68-footer that’s expected 1.65 million miles away on the same day.
Both asteroids were discovered this year.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/09/06/5-asteroids-to-pass-by-earth-this-week-1-as-big-as-a-house/
