Half-Mile-Long Asteroid to Pass Very Close to Earth

A huge asteroid will fly past Earth at the closest distance it has come in the past 400 years.

The approach, a distance of 1.1 million miles or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon, will also be the closest the 2,000-foot-long asteroid comes for another 500 years, according to NASA.

“Astronomers plan to observe [the asteroid] with telescopes around the world to learn as much about it as possible,” NASA said in a statement.

The asteroid, known as 2014 JO25, is expected to be visible in the night sky after April 19 for one or two nights with the aid of a small telescope.

The agency also said there is no chance the asteroid will collide with Earth.