Skyscraper-Size Asteroid Will Fly By Earth On Friday

A massive asteroid will zoom past Earth on Friday (February 2), coming within 1.7 million miles of our planet. NASA said that the asteroid 2008 OS7 will not come close to hitting the Earth, as it will pass by at seven times the distance from Earth to the moon, traveling at a speed of 41,000 mph.

NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies said that 2008 OS7 is between 690 feet and 1,575 feet across. That makes it roughly the same size as the Empire State Building. An asteroid of that size won’t cause planetary devastation but could wipe out a city if it strikes Earth.

You can watch the asteroid’s flyby live, thanks to The Virtual Telescope Project. The live stream starts on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.

According to Live Science, NASA has mapped out the asteroid’s future orbital path and said this will be the closest it gets to Earth until after the year 2200.

When the asteroid comes by again in 2032, it will be much further away, at 45 million miles.