Large Asteroid to Pass Close to Earth Next Week

One million miles may sound like a far distance. But when it comes to astronomical terms, a mere million miles from Earth is pretty much our backyard.

That's the expected path of an asteroid known as 2014 JO25. the two thousand foot wide space rock will pass roughly one million miles from earth on April 19. If the weather decides to cooperate, you might be able to catch a glimpse of the asteroid in the night sky with an optical telescope, says CBS News.  

You might also want to be away from any sort of city lights for the best possible viewing.

NASA siad in a statement:

At this time very little else is known about the object’s physical properties, even though its trajectory is well known.

This is the closest a large asteroid has come to Earth since 2004. An asteroid this size either hitting the planet or exploding in the atmosphere would cause catastrophic damage costing in the billions. Scientists have assured us though that the giant rock has no chance of hitting earth.