A building-sized asteroid will fly closer to Earth than the moon on Saturday.
Astronomers first spotted the space rock on 27 February and have been tracking its potential risk of impacting Earth.
Dubbed 2023 DZ2, the asteroid is roughly 40–95 meters (130–310 feet) in diameter, and is classified as a near-Earth object of the Apollo group of asteroids.
However, according to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory data, it is thought to pose no risk to our planet after a potential 1-in-430 chance of collision in March next year was discounted.
If the worst had happened, it was estimated that an impact would produce an upper atmosphere air burst equivalent to 4.5 Mt TNT, roughly equal to 214 times the Fat Man warhead dropped on Nagasaki.
Saturday's approach could be visible to amateur astronomers, with modest telescopes and telescopes equipped with an image sensor.
2023 DZ2 will pass at a distance of 174,645 ± 66 km (108,519 ± 41 mi) of Earth, which is a little less than half the distance to the Moon.
