NASA worried as three skyscraper-sized asteroids hurtle towards Earth this week

NASA's top asteroid experts are worried about three giant skyscraper-sized asteroids hurtling towards Earth this week.

Three giant flying space rocks – called 2012 DK31, 2006 BE55 and 2021 QW – are flying past the planet, with one coming as close as just 2.2 million miles to us.

The first one started coming past us on Monday, and is still within our sights today (Wednesday, March 1).

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It measures around 137 metres across, and is thought to be as wide as a 40-floor skyscraper is tall.

The second one started coming close to Earth last night (Tuesday, February 28), and is the closest of the trio.

That one flies by every four or five years.

And the third asteroid will come near Earth on Friday (March 3) and will be around 250 feet in diametre, flying around 3.3 million miles from the planet.

All three have worried NASA experts enough to label them as Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, which means that they could cause some serious damage to our planet should the trajectory change in some way.

Although NASA has mapped out the trajectories and collisions are not thought to happen for the next 200 years at least, any kind of movement could result in a potentially destructive new pathway for the rocks.

However, the Earth could be smashed into by an "unknown" number of invisible asteroids at any moment, an expert warned.

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Richard Moissl, the European Space Agency's head of planetary defence said: “Asteroids the size of the Chelyabinsk meteor strike Earth roughly every 50-100 years.

“Injuries caused by airbursts or similar events could be prevented if people are informed of an oncoming impact and its predicted effects.

“With advance warning, local authorities would be able to advise the public to keep well away from windows and glass.

“New telescopic surveys are braving the sun's glare and searching for asteroids toward the sun during twilight.

“These surveys have found many previously undiscovered asteroids interior to Earth.”

So, despite NASA claiming nothing will hit us for at least 200 years, it's possible that they could be very, very wrong.

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