There is an asteroid so large that a person could easily roam around it as if it was their individual home — which is convenient, given they are roughly the same size. That same asteroid is about to come awfully close to striking Earth, at least according to the NASA Asteroid Watch Dashboard, which exists to warn the Earth of the presence of NEOs (near earth objects). At the time of this writing, it is projecting that this object is the size of a house, with a diameter of 31 meters or over 100 feet and will whiz harmlessly by our planet on September 6th.
Meet 2021 JA5, an asteroid that the Jerusalem Post noted was equal in size to "81 bulldogs," and which also has the diameter of roughly two-and-a-half king size beds. It is expected to pass within roughly 3.17 million miles of Earth — practically scraping our sides, from an astronomical vantage point.
Nor is it passing Earth on its own: On Sept. 8th, it will be joined by an airplane-sized asteroid named QC5, which is expected to pass within 2.53 million miles of Earth. In addition it will be joined on that day by a bus-sized asteroid called GE that will pass within 3.56 million miles of Earth. Then, on Sept. 10th, another airplane-sized asteroid known as QF6 will pass Earth within 1.65 million miles of our planet; it will be followed by RT2, an asteroid the size of a bus expected to fly within 2.62 million miles of Earth. While all of these close visitors may be worrisome, the chances of them hitting Earth and causing serious damage are statistically very low.
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the asteroid's size was compared to king-size mattresses. It has been amended to more accurately reflect its size.
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