{"id":440930,"date":"2026-01-31T13:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440930\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:44:17","slug":"nasa-tracking-bus-sized-asteroid-approaching-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440930\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Tracking Bus-Sized Asteroid Approaching Earth\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA<\/a> is\u00a0currently\u00a0tracking a\u00a0bus-sized asteroid\u00a0set to zip\u00a0past the Earth<\/a> on\u00a0January 31\u00a0at\u00a0a whopping 8,478\u00a0miles per hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Known as\u00a02022\u00a0OC3, the space<\/a> rock is estimated to be about\u00a024\u00a0feet across and will make its closest approach on Saturday, at\u00a0a distance of\u00a0311,000\u00a0miles, according to\u00a0NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).\u00a0<\/p>\n

More\u00a0asteroids<\/a>\u00a0are expected to zoom past the Earth\u00a0in the coming days. Also, today, a\u00a0house-sized asteroid known as 2026 BK, will make its closest approach at\u00a0a much larger distance of\u00a02,310,000\u00a0miles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three\u00a0more asteroids\u00a0will follow\u00a0on Saturday. A\u00a0car-sized\u00a0space rock known as\u00a02023 RX1\u00a0will pass within\u00a02,090,000\u00a0miles, followed by\u00a0bus-sized 2026 BF1,\u00a0which will come as close as\u00a02,630,000\u00a0miles distant; and plane-sized 2025 YQ12, 95 feet across, which will get up to 2,860,000 from\u00a0our planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Asteroids are small, rocky objects that are remnants from the formation of the solar system around 4.6 billion years ago. They are mostly\u00a0located\u00a0in the main asteroid belt, orbiting the Sun between Mars and\u00a0Jupiter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Small asteroids measuring up to 30 feet across\u00a0impact\u00a0the\u00a0Earth roughly once every ten years. These\u00a0collisions\u00a0usually result in a bright fireball and a powerful sonic boom and may occasionally break a window, but they\u00a0generally do\u00a0not cause\u00a0any significant damage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February 2025, an asteroid estimated to be between 174 and 220 feet in size\u2014”2024 YR4″\u2014was calculated to have a 3.1 percent chance of striking Earth in 2032, which was described as “the highest impact probability NASA has ever recorded for an object of this size or larger.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

An asteroid of this size could destroy an entire city if it impacted Earth. However, updated calculations\u00a0indicate\u00a0that an Earth impact is very unlikely, and some scientists now suggest that\u00a02024 YR4<\/a>\u00a0may instead be on its path to possibly collide with the Moon in December 2032.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Asteroid 2024 YR4 is now too far away to observe with either space or ground-based telescopes. NASA expects to make further observations when the asteroid’s orbit around the Sun brings it back into the vicinity of Earth in 2028,” NASA said on their website.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

More recently, scientists from South Korea\u2019s Pusan National University examined another large asteroid known as Bennu. This space rock some 1,640 feet wide is predicted to have a one-in-2,700 chance of colliding with Earth in September 2182.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although an impact is highly unlikely, the potential consequences of it would be severe. Shock waves produced by the collision would trigger earthquakes, wildfires and thermal radiation. The impact would also create a large crater, sending debris into the atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atmospheric chemistry and global photosynthesis would also be disrupted for three to four years due to the release of 100\u2013400 million tons of dust into the atmosphere from the impact.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Average surface temperatures would drop by about 7 degrees Fahrenheit, rainfall would decrease by 15 percent and the ozone layer would be reduced by 32 percent. Plant photosynthesis would also decline by 20 to 30 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you have a tip on a science story that\u00a0Newsweek\u00a0should be covering? Do you have a question about asteroids? Let us know via science@newsweek.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA is\u00a0currently\u00a0tracking a\u00a0bus-sized asteroid\u00a0set to zip\u00a0past the Earth on\u00a0January 31\u00a0at\u00a0a whopping 8,478\u00a0miles per hour.\u00a0 Known as\u00a02022\u00a0OC3, the space…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[6949,2300,718,79,193,14678],"class_list":["post-440930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-asteroids","tag-earth","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}