NASA spots bus-sized asteroid fast-approaching Earth

An asteroid approximately the size of a bus will make a close approach to Earth and will come within the distance between the Earth and the moon.

According to NASA's Asteroid Watch list, the next asteroid to make a close approach with Earth is asteroid 2022 ES5, which was only discovered on March 7. Researchers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona discovered the asteroid, mapped its orbit, size, movements, and published their results online. Now the asteroid appears in NASA's watch list and small body database where it states 2022 ES5 will come within 207,000 miles of Earth.

To put that number of miles into context, the average distance between the moon and Earth is about 238,855 miles. It should be noted that 2022 ES5 isn't categorized as a "potentially hazardous asteroid" due to its small diameter. NASA categorizes a space rock as "potentially hazardous" if its diameter is 500 feet or greater, and its orbit brings it within 4.6 million miles of Earth, or about 19.5 times the distance to the moon.

Read more: NASA spots football stadium-sized asteroid fast-approaching Earth