An asteroid the size of a school bus is approaching Earth almost like the Moon

NASA reported that an asteroid the size of a school bus will pass Earth within close distance of the Moon on Wednesday.

The asteroid, which has an orbit larger than Earth’s, will approach the planet by 270,000 miles. The moon is 238,900 miles from Earth.

The asteroid — named 2023 HV5 — is 41 feet across, according to NASA lab.

The asteroid is moving at about 8.9 kilometers per second, or 5.53 miles per second, according to the agency’s calculations.

HV5 isn’t the only asteroid that passed Earth relatively close this week.

The next asteroid to approach Earth, which is about the size of a house, could come as close as 397,000 miles away. It will come close to Earth on Thursday.

NASA has discovered 31,831 near-Earth asteroids of all sizes.

Near-Earth Objects are asteroids and comets that orbit the sun like planets.

As of May 2, NASA has detected 851 asteroids larger than 1 kilometer, or 0.62 miles, across. The number of remaining asteroids is estimated to be 50. According to NASA.

In the last 30 days, 10 asteroids have passed closer to Earth than the Moon, according to NASA. In the last 365 days, 103 asteroids have passed closer to Earth than to the Moon.