The largest asteroid to get close to Earth makes its pass this week. But there's no need to worry as the Scottish Sun reports it will avoid our planet by 2.5 million miles.
The space rock, named 7335 (1989 JA), passes our pale blue dot on May 27, according to Nasa. However, what makes 7335 stand out is its gargantuan size - up to 1.1 miles (1.8 km) wide and four times bigger than the Empire State Building.
Asteroid 7335 is travelling faster than a bullet but does not pose any immediate threat to our planet. The object hurtles past roughly once every seven years, giving scientists a chance to examine it up close.
It's expected to make this year's flyby at 3.26pm UK time on May 27, according to Nasa. It's one of seven space objects expected to make what Nasa calls "close approaches" this week.
Fortunately, nothing being tracked by the space agency is thought to pose any danger to us. Astronomers are currently tracking 2,000 asteroids, comets and other objects that could one day threaten our planet, and new ones are discovered frequently.
Earth hasn't seen an asteroid of apocalyptic scale since the space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. However, smaller objects capable of flattening an entire city crash into Earth every so often.
One a few hundred metres across devastated 800 square miles of forest near Tunguska in Siberia on June 30, 1908. Fortunately, Nasa doesn't believe any of the objects it keeps an eye on are on a collision course with our planet.
That could change in the coming months or years, however, as the space agency frequently revises objects' predicted trajectories. "Global catastrophes" are only triggered when objects larger than 900 metres across smash into Earth, according to Nasa.
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