🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Three huge asteroids are due to make their closest orbital approaches to Earth next week, according to NASA's asteroid tracking system.
The biggest of the three asteroids could be nearly as large as the Eiffel Tower is tall, but all are due to pass the planet at a safe distance, multiple times farther away from us than the Moon.
Several asteroids, like these three, are in orbit around the Sun and at times will make closer passes to our planet than others.
The three asteroids are named 2021 GJ3, 2016 QE45, and 2021 FK3. They are listed below in order of when they are due to make their close approach to the Earth.
2021 GJ3 is due to pass Earth on April 21 at 2:26 a.m. UTC. At its closest distance to Earth, it will be 917,000 miles away.
It is between 154 and 360 feet in diameter, or about as wide as an NFL football field is long at the upper estimate.
2016 QE45 is due to pass Earth on April 24 at 1:48 a.m. UTC. It will be 3,150,000 miles away.
It is between 393 and 885 feet in diameter. At this upper limit, it is about as wide as the Eiffel Tower is tall.
2021 FK3 is due to pass Earth on April 24 at 5:45 p.m. UTC. It will pass by at 3,756,344 miles away.
It is between 288 and 656 feet in diameter. At this upper limit, 2021 FK3 is thought to be about as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge is tall.
All three of the asteroids are expected to be traveling at a speed of at least 13.4 kilometers (about 8 miles) per second, or 14 times faster than a rifle bullet, when they pass by the Earth.
It is not unusual for huge asteroids to pass by Earth, and it is also not unusual for smaller asteroids to come much closer to us.
On Monday, the asteroid 2021 GW4 passed by our planet at a distance of just 16,700 miles—significantly nearer to us than the three listed above. It is small, however, at between 11 feet and 25 feet across.
Scientists begin to pay more attention when asteroids are both large and near to us, which is very rare.
Due to their speed, even small asteroids can release huge amounts of force if they impact the Earth's atmosphere or surface.
Asteroid 2008 TC3, which exploded over Sudan in November 2008, was "no more than a few meters in diameter," according to NASA. Yet its mid-air explosion released energy equivalent to around 1,000 tons of TNT.
