A String of Asteroids Massive in Size Are Expected to Pass Earth Over Next Few Weeks, NASA Says

A series of asteroids are expected to whiz by Earth over the next few weeks. One of the asteroids that passed on Friday was close in size to the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, CBS News reported.

The Asteroid 2021 SM3, approximately 525 feet in diameter, passed on Friday within 3.5 million miles of Earth, according to data from NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies, CBS News reported.

The center said this asteroid was only first observed a few weeks ago, the news outlet reported. 

Asteroid 2021 SM3 is considered a Near Earth Object, also known as NEOs, “comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbit that allows them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood,” NASA said. 

Scientists believe NEOs hold information about the beginning of our universe since they were formed from largely untouched debris from when the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago, CBS reported.

According to scientists, NEOs are formed in the cold outer planetary system and consist of "water ice with embedded dust particles," while asteroids formed in the warmer inner solar system "between Mars and Jupiter" are more rocky, a report said.

On Wednesday, Asteroid 1996 VB3 is expected to come within 2 million miles of Earth, about 8 times further away than the moon, a report said. 

Asteroid 1996 VB3 is estimated to be up to 690 feet in diameter, about half the height of the Empire State Building, CBS reported. 

On Oct. 25, Asteroid 2017 SJ20 is expected to pass Earth, slightly further away, at around 4.5 million miles. The asteroid is estimated to be up to 600 feet wide, according to the news outlet.

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