An asteroid the size of a school bus is due to zip past our planet on Wednesday, coming closer to us than the moon.The asteroid, named 2024 VX3, is forecast to skim past the Earth at a distance of 92,100 miles Wednesday evening, bringing it much closer to us than the moon's 238,900-mile orbit.2024 VX3 is estimated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) to be between 20 and 43 feet in diameter, making it between the same size as a giraffe or a Brachiosaurus.Two other asteroids are also expected to pass the Earth's neighborhood on Wednesday, with two more scheduled to visit Thursday.Stock image of an asteroid passing the Earth (main) and a school bus (inset). A bus-sized asteroid is due to pass the Earth today, coming closer than the moon.Stock image of an asteroid passing the Earth (main) and a school bus (inset). A bus-sized asteroid is due to pass the Earth today, coming closer than the moon.ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS On Wednesday, 2024 VO2 and 2020 AB2, both estimated to be around the size of a house at between 36 and 78 feet in diameter, will fly by our planet, albeit at a much greater distance than 2024 VX3. 2024 VO2 will pass us at a distance of 2,730,000 miles, while 2020 AB2 will be even further away, at 4,490,000 miles.Thursday's asteroids, named 2024 VV1 and 2024 UA10, will pass at 4,520,000 miles and 4,550,000 miles respectively. 2024 VV1 is also roughly house-sized, while 2024 UA10 is about the size of a plane, between 78 and 173 feet in diameter.For reference, at its nearest point to Earth, our neighboring planet Venus is about 24 million miles away.Due to its relatively close distance, Wednesday's 2024 VX3 is classified by CNEOS as Near-Earth Objects or NEOs, which are objects that are within 30 million miles of Earth."A NEO is defined as an object that has a closest approach to the Sun less than 1.3 AU [approximately 120 million miles]," Martin Barstow, a professor of astrophysics and space science at the University of Leicester in the U.K., told Newsweek.We have detected about 36,000 objects in our solar system so far that we have classified as NEO.Some particularly large NEOs are also classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) or potentially hazardous objects (PHOs). These are defined as coming within around 4.6 million miles of Earth, having a diameter of at least 460 feet across, and being brighter than a magnitude of 22.0 or less."Astronomers consider a near-Earth object a threat if it has an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.05 AU (around 4.7 million miles or 7.5 million km) or less and is at least 140 meters [460 feet] in diameter. Those are known as potentially hazardous objects (PHOs)," Svetla Ben-Itzhak, an assistant professor of space and international relations at Johns Hopkins University, previously told Newsweek.2020 AB2, 2024 VO2, 2024 VX3, and 2024 UA10 are all NEOs, but none are also PHAs due to their larger distance from the Earth.If a PHA did ever collide with Earth, it could be apocalyptic for humankind."Not all cosmic objects present a threat to Earth. If a cosmic body [of 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter] crashed into Earth, it could destroy an entire city and cause extreme regional devastation; larger objects over 1 kilometer [in diameter] could have global effects and even cause mass extinction," Ben-Itzhak said.Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about asteroids? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.