Five big asteroids heading for Earth, NASA says one as giant as a stadium

Five big asteroids are cruising past Earth this week, thankfully at a safe distance of some million miles. According to NASA's weekly chart of asteroid approaches, March 3 will be a big day for asteroids as five of the objects in sizes as massive as an airplane and a stadium will fly by our home planet. 

The asteroids are close enough to bag a place in NASA's potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) list. The first one listed on the website is 2023 DX, which was discovered only recently. First spotted on February 27, the asteroid will approach Earth from a distance of 1,240,000 miles, or 2,000,000 km. 

The second one, named 2023 DN1, is the size of a house. It will fly past our home planet at a distance of 1,770,000 miles or 2,850,000 km. 2007 ED125, which is the size of a football stadium, is the third asteroid that will approach within 2,790,000 miles or 4,490,000 km of Earth.

What kind of asteroids are perceived as potentially hazardous? 

The fourth asteroid called 2017 BM123 is similar to the first one in size, almost as big as an aircraft. Set to approach Earth on March 3, it will fly past at 2,870,000 miles distance. Finally, the last asteroid will approach Earth from 3,300,000 miles away. Named 2021 QW, it is the size of a skyrise building, but harmless due to the distance it will be at. 

On a regular basis, NASA scans the skies to locate asteroids that might be approaching Earth or could pose a risk to it. For an asteroid to be considered potentially hazardous, it must be bigger than 492 feet with orbits that pass within 4.6 million miles of Earth.