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Three City-Killing Asteroids Could Strike Earth Soon Without Warning, Researchers Say It Is More Powerful Than Hiroshima

NASA keeps an eye on bus-sized asteroids that hover around Earth at around 16,000 to 41,000 miles per hour.

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An artist's rendering of a distinct star system (Representative Cover Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope)

Stories like that of dinosaur extinction have understandably made people fearful of asteroid impacts. NASA is one of the organizations that continually keeps track of asteroids that are 'close' to Earth, according to Newsweek. In recent times, three asteroids have piqued experts with their size as well as their proximity.

An artist's rendering of a planet (Representative Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope)

All of these asteroids are traveling through space at speeds of around 16,000 to 41,000 miles per hour. One of them was the size of a bus and had been named '2025 KH' by experts. Astronomers estimate it to be around 37 feet in diameter. In May 2025, the asteroid came 687,000 miles close to Earth. At this time, the object's speed was calculated to be over 25,000 miles per hour.

The second one has been labeled '2025 KE1' and is around 58 feet in diameter. It is also expected to reach within 636,000 miles of planet Earth in May. The predicted speed has been deemed to be around 16,000 miles per hour.

At present, the asteroid is 0.047838 astronomical units away from Earth, according to The Sky Live. As per estimates, it takes light around 23.8712 seconds to travel from asteroid (NEO) 2025 KE1 and come back to Earth.

Data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope indicated that the third asteroid, '2024 YR4,' was around 200 feet in size, according to Newsweek. Andy Rivkin, an astronomer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, noted that this is the size of a 15-story building. Other estimates suggested to researchers that the object could make an impact on Earth in 2032.

The '2024 YR4' is believed to be the closest PHA currently in NASA's radar, according to Interesting Engineering. Furthermore, its impact probability was also believed to be higher than any PHA ever seen by astronomers. Past estimates showcased that it has a 3.1 percent chance of hitting Earth. However, current findings suggest that the probability has dropped to 0.004 percent. This estimate made scientists predict that there is no significant risk of an asteroid impacting Earth in the next century.

Asteroids passing close to Earth are not unusual occurrences; however, only a few are monitored by NASA. All three have been deemed as “Potentially Hazardous Asteroids” (PHAs) because they are within 4.6 million miles of the planet. There are around 1,400 PHAs currently being observed by NASA.

Asteroids are small masses left over after the formation of the solar system, according to Newsweek. They are mostly orbiting the sun and do not often come very close to Earth. "The majority of near-Earth objects have orbits that don't bring them very close to Earth and therefore pose no risk of impact," NASA explained.

The most famous and significant asteroid in Earth's history is possibly the Chicxulub impactor, according to CNN. This asteroid supposedly killed all dinosaurs on the planet around 66 million years ago. The 7.5-mile (12 km) wide asteroid destroyed 75% of life on the planet. NASA claims that an asteroid of such a size hits Earth every 10,000 years. However, this one had such a huge effect because of the massive energy it produced.