An asteroid the size of a minibus travelling at 33,300 miles per hour will pass Earth at around 12.30am UK time on Friday morning, and it will be as close to the Earth's surface as London is from Crete - 2,500miles. The space rock, which has been named 2023 BU, will be one of the closest passes of an asteroid in 300 years according to Nasa's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).
The asteroid was only discovered last weekend, but scientists are confident it won't hit the earth and if it did come any closer it would burn up in the atmosphere in a spectacular fireball. You will be able to watch the asteroid pass our planet on a livestream courtesy of robotic, remote-controlled telescopes as part of the Virtual Telescope Project (VTP) that is being operated by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy.
The approach will be closer to the Earth than some satellites, which orbit at 22,000 miles.
The live feed is due to start on Thursday at 7.15pm UK time. According to the CNEOS data, the space rock only measures between 12.4ft and 27.8ft across, meaning that, even if it was heading for Earth, it would be of little threat. Nasa states that asteroids smaller than 82 feet (25 metres) across will most likely burn up when they enter Earth's atmosphere, leading to little or no damage on the ground.
