NASA reveals asteroid the size of a car heading towards Earth today

NASA revealed a car-sized asteroid, known as "2025 DQ", is hurtling past Earth today at approximately 15,000 miles per hour.

This rock, estimated to be just under four metres wide, is projected to fly by at roughly 186,000 miles from our planet, said NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

JPL's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) added that "2025 DQ" could measure up to six metres in diameter.

Another asteroid named "2012 DZ", with an estimated size of up to 36 metres, is also expected to come within about 662,000 miles of Earth this evening, CNEOS said.

Just last week, an asteroid roughly the size of a bus named "2025 CN" narrowly missed Earth, travelling at around 18,700 miles per hour. This near-Earth object was believed to span about 28 feet, based on estimates from the JPL.

Asteroids are small, rocky remnants from the formation of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago. They are primarily located in the main asteroid belt, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

These asteroids have orbits that bring them within 120 million miles of the sun. Most near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids, varying in size from approximately three metres to nearly 25 miles across.

NASA said: "The majority of near-Earth objects have orbits that don't bring them very close to Earth, and therefore pose no risk of impact."

However, a small group of these, known as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), warrant closer scrutiny.

According to NASA, potentially hazardous asteroids are those larger than about 460 feet and have orbits that bring them as close as within 4.6 million miles of Earth's orbit around the Sun.

Despite the presence of PHAs in our solar system, none are expected to collide with Earth in the foreseeable future.