The space rock 2015 SZ2 is one of six “near-Earth” flybys due on Wednesday, but while most will pass by several million miles away, it is estimated to be on an orbit of just 309,000 miles – only 1.3 times the distrance from Earth to the Moon (238,000 miles).
Significant asteroids pass Earth every week, and Nasa monitors them at up to 12 million miles away, so this is considered a cosmic close shave.
A rock of 50 metres could destroy all of London out to the M25 boundary, and a space rock of 100metres long or more could devastate a continent, causing mass destruction and tsunamis.
But the US space agency insists it, and all the others WILL pass by safey – for the next few hundred years at least.
The cosmic skim comes straight after wild predictions were made online that a huge space rock would strike Puerto Rico by the end of this month.
Fears became so widespread a rock may be about to strike that Nasa took the unusual move of issuing a statement ruling this out.
The most unsettling pass was a monster 270-metre space rock called 2012 TT5 – one of six “near-earth” flybys between September 22 and 28 when online doomsday prophets claimed the world could end.
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