--- description: The 2,000-foot-long asteroid will pass Earth at a distance of 1.1 million miles, according to NASA. title: Asteroid to Come Very Close to Earth Tonight, NASA Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb791eae1bfb56dc1/6988c394cf40a807e3c47508/pia21594_hires.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [astronomy](/tag/astronomy/) ## astronomy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Half-Mile-Long Asteroid to Pass Very Close to Earth by [Lisa Marie Segarra](/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 19, 2017 5:37 PM CUT  This composite of 30 images of asteroid 2014 JO25 was generated with radar data collected using NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert. This composite of 30 images of asteroid 2014 JO25 was generated with radar data collected using NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert.NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR by [Lisa Marie Segarra](/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 19, 2017 5:37 PM CUT 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](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/asteroid-to-fly-safely-past-earth-on-april-19 "undefined"). “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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4746712/asteroid-passing-earth-nasa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4746712/asteroid-passing-earth-nasa/"},"headline":"Half-Mile-Long Asteroid to Pass Very Close to Earth","datePublished":"2017-04-19T17:37:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:30:00.708Z","description":"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","url":"https://time.com/4746712/asteroid-passing-earth-nasa/","keywords":["astronomy","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb791eae1bfb56dc1/6988c394cf40a807e3c47508/pia21594_hires.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb791eae1bfb56dc1/6988c394cf40a807e3c47508/pia21594_hires.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"asteroid-close-earth","caption":"This composite of 30 images of asteroid 2014 JO25 was generated with radar data collected using NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert.","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/astronomy/","name":"astronomy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4746712/asteroid-passing-earth-nasa/","name":"Half-Mile-Long Asteroid to Pass Very Close to Earth"}}]}] ```