Asteroids of Unprecedented Size Approaching Earth at Unimaginable Speeds

Asteroid 2013 WV44, larger than ten buses, is set to have a close encounter with Earth on Wednesday. Despite its size and speed, there is no cause for alarm as it will remain at a safe distance of approximately 2.1 million miles from our planet. This asteroid falls under the category of a near-Earth object (NEO), which are celestial bodies that come within 1.3 astronomical units (AU) of the sun. NASA's diligent tracking of NEOs is crucial, as there are over 32,000 known near-Earth asteroids, with more than 10,000 estimated to be larger than 460 feet in diameter.