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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

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.

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