--- title: This Asteroid Is Coming Really Close to Earth description: NASA says an asteroid that was first spotted only days ago will make a very close pass by Earth on Sunday. canonical: https://time.com/3267989/asteroid-earth/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-04T12:34:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:01:30.177Z article:section: Science og:title: This Asteroid Is Coming Really Close to Earth og:description: NASA says an asteroid that was first spotted only days ago will make a very close pass by Earth on Sunday. og:url: https://time.com/3267989/asteroid-earth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644593f9b76c5e2c/6986a1f5adae443adb544cca/nasaimage21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: NASAImage2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Asteroid Is Coming Really Close to Earth twitter:description: NASA says an asteroid that was first spotted only days ago will make a very close pass by Earth on Sunday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644593f9b76c5e2c/6986a1f5adae443adb544cca/nasaimage21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Asteroid Will Pass Really Close to Earth This Weekend > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=574e384b-d21e-4941-b0f1-b3a14430d504&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Asteroid Expected to Pass Extremely Close to Earth Sunday [Watch (HLS stream): Asteroid Expected to Pass Extremely Close to Earth Sunday](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3O1rZ9xX.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2014-09-04. Asteroid 2014 RC was discovered Labor Day Weekend and is expected to come within 25,000 miles of Earth Sunday._  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Sep 4, 2014 12:34 PM UTC  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Sep 4, 2014 12:34 PM UTC NASA says an asteroid that was first spotted only days ago will pass very close to Earth on Sunday. The asteroid, designated 2014 RC, will “safely pass” our planet at about one tenth the distance from Earth to the Moon, or roughly 25,000 miles away, the space agency said Wednesday. That means it will be only a few thousand miles away from the geosynchronous ring where many of our weather and communication satellites orbit about 22,000 miles from Earth’s surface. 2014 RC is estimated to be about 60 feet in size and, despite its proximity, won’t be visible by the naked eye when it flies over New Zealand, though a simple telescope will be enough to spot it. It was first discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona over the weekend. “While this celestial object does not appear to pose any threat to Earth or satellites, its close approach creates a unique opportunity for researchers to observe and learn more about asteroids,” NASA said in a statement about the asteroid’s pass. And this won’t be the last we see of 2014 RC, whose orbit will bring it back to Earth’s neighborhood in the future. But NASA assures us that “no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified.” ## Transcript NASA says an asteroid believed to be more than 60 feet in size is expected to pass very close to Earth Sunday. This video shows the approximate path of the asteroid, dubbed 2014 RC which, by galactic standards, comes extremely close to our pale, blue dot. But don't worry, according to NASA this asteroid will safely pass very close to Earth and won't even be visible to the naked eye. At it's closest asteroid 2014 RC will be 25, 000 miles away from earth. The asteroid will come even closer to the earth's geosynchronous ring. The region about 22, 000 miles away where most of the earth's weather and communication satellites are located. Asteroid 2014RC was discovered Labor Day weekend and is expected to be above New Zealand at it's closest Sunday, which the Washington Post points out is very short notice for a potential space collision. The idea that there are objects hurtling their way toward earth that scientists have not yet discovered is mildly disconcerting and why many of us might see this as a close call, the people at NASA believe it is an opportunity. While this celestial object does not appear to pose any threat to Earth or satellites. Its close approach creates a unique opportunity for researchers to observe and learn more about asteroids. NASA defines asteroid 2014 RC as a NEO or near Earth object. It's a designation given to any space rock that comes with in 28 million miles of Earth. As of September 2014 there have been 864 Near Earth Asteroids discovered all time, that were larger than 1 kilometer. 2014 RC, is much smaller than that. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3267989/asteroid-earth/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3267989/asteroid-earth/"},"headline":"This Asteroid Will Pass Really Close to Earth This Weekend","datePublished":"2014-09-04T12:34:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T09:01:30.177Z","description":"Zoinks!","url":"https://time.com/3267989/asteroid-earth/","keywords":["astronomy","NASA","earth","asteroid"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644593f9b76c5e2c/6986a1f5adae443adb544cca/nasaimage21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644593f9b76c5e2c/6986a1f5adae443adb544cca/nasaimage21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NASAImage2","caption":"This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2014 RC around the sun. 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