The largest asteroid to approach Earth this year is four days away – and it’s a MILE across

THE largest asteroid to come close to Earth this year will make its knee-shaking flyby this week.

The space rock named 7335 (1989 JA) will rise within 2.5 million miles (4 million km) of our light blue dot on May 27, according to Nasa.

That’s about ten times the distance between the earth and the moon – a stone’s throw in space.

However, what sets 7335 apart is its gargantuan size.

According to NASA Close proximity databasethe rock is up to 1.8 km wide.

That makes it four times taller than the Empire State Building, or as tall as 1,000 people stacked on top of each other.

Asteroid 7335 flies faster than a bullet but poses no immediate threat to our planet.

The object speeds by about every seven years, giving scientists a chance to study it up close.

According to Nasa, this year’s flyby is expected on May 27 at 3:26 p.m. UK time (10:26 a.m. EST).

It’s one of seven space objects expected to make what Nasa is calling “close approach” this week.

Fortunately, nothing that the space agency is tracking is believed to pose any threat to us.

Astronomers are currently tracking 2,000 asteroids, comets and other objects that may one day threaten our light blue dot, and new ones are being discovered frequently.

Earth has not seen an asteroid of apocalyptic proportions since the space rock that wiped out dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

However, smaller objects capable of leveling an entire city do crash to earth from time to time.

One on June 30, 1908 near Tunguska in Siberia, a few hundred meters across, devastated 800 square miles of forest.

Luckily, Nasa doesn’t think any of the NEOs it’s keeping 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 the predicted trajectories of objects.

“NASA is currently not aware of any asteroid or comet on a collision course with Earth, so the likelihood of a major collision is pretty slim,” NASA says.

“As far as we can tell, no large object is likely to hit Earth for the next hundred years.”

Even if one did hit our planet, the vast majority of asteroids would not wipe out life as we know it.

According to NASA, “global catastrophes” are only triggered when objects with a diameter of more than 900 meters hit the earth.

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https://www.thesun.ie/tech/8839366/biggest-asteroid-earth-close-approach-mile-wide/ The largest asteroid to approach Earth this year is four days away – and it’s a MILE across