5 asteroids to pass by Earth this week — 1 as big as a house

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.”

Discovered in 1999, Bennu is a small asteroid that passes close to Earth about every six years.
NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

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.


The asteroid JA5 will be making a pass by Earth today.
The asteroid JA5 is expected to pass by Earth on Wednesday.

The Post reached out to NASA for comment.

The agency said it has discovered more than 32,000 asteroids near Earth, as of last week.

NASA notes that the average distance between Earth and the moon is about 239,000 miles.

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