NASA has revealed that an asteroid measuring about 100 feet in diameter and moving at a speed of more than 34,000 mph is set to whiz by Earth in two weeks.
Although asteroids are known to pose threats to Earth, scientists assured that no collision would take place as the object will flyby at a safe distance from our planet.
It would not be the first time that Asteroid 2013 TX68 would zoom past Earth. Two years, ago, it flew at 1.3 million miles away from our planet.
Scientists, however, expect that the asteroid would fly closer this time whizzing from as far as 9 million miles to as close as 11,000 miles from Earth during its upcoming flyby on March 7 at 7:06 p.m. ET.
The variation in the object's proximity from Earth is due to a range of potential trajectories for the asteroid, given that scientists were only able to track it for a short period of time since its discovery.
"It's gonna be close. But it's going to miss us. There is nothing to worry about," said astronomer Gerald McKeegan, from Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California.
Although scientists said that there is no possibility that the asteroid would impact Earth next month, they have identified a possibility that the object may collide with Earth on Sept. 28, 2017.
The chances, however, are very remote with odds of no more than 1-in-250-million. The asteroid's flybys in 2046 and 2097 have even lower possibilities of impact.
"The possibilities of collision on any of the three future flyby dates are far too small to be of any real concern," said NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies Manager Paul Chodas. "I fully expect any future observations to reduce the probability even more."
The asteroid is larger than an 18-wheel tractor trailer truck. With a diameter of 100 feet, the object is bigger than the 65-foot asteroid that broke up in Russia's Chelyabinsk atmosphere three years ago.
If an asteroid with the same size as 2013 TX68 would enter our planet's atmosphere, it would likely generate an air burst that is about twice the energy that was produced during the Chelyabinsk event.
