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The imposing asteroid, christened by NASA's Asteroid 201B JB1, is heading toward Earth in a "near approach" trajectory. NASA's asteroid trackers calculated a close flyby early in the morning of Monday, May 20th. According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA in California, the asteroid JB1 will exceed our planet around 4:23 pm (3h23 UTC). And when the asteroid approaches Earth, it will reach dizzying speeds of about 26.04 km per second.
The JB1 asteroid is an Apollo-like asteroid or "NEO".
NEOs are all asteroids and comets in orbit of the Sun at a distance of 1.3 astronomical units (at).
A single astronomical unit measures about 149 million km, which is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
NASA's JPL estimates that the JB1 measurements are between 170 and 390 m (557.7 feet).
READ MORE: Find out how often asteroids hit Earth
An asteroid at the top of the estimate is higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
The asteroid is also about 200 times longer than a Queen Size bed and 45 London double-decker buses.
If the space rock were to touch the Earth, the force of the impact could be extremely deadly.
NASA said: "If a rocky meteoroid of more than 25 m but less than a kilometer – a little over 1/2 km – was to touch the Earth, it would probably damage the area of impact.
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"We think that anything over one to two kilometers (one kilometer equals a little over half a kilometer) could have effects on a global scale."
So, is there anything to fear from flying the asteroid next week?
Fortunately, NASA predicts that the asteroid will not come close enough to hit the Earth.
The JB1 asteroid will fly over the Earth at a distance of 0.04305 astronomical units.
READ MORE: Watch the main asteroid DESTROY Earth in violent accident simulation
This means that the asteroid will be within 6.4 million kilometers of our original world.
In other words, NASA expects the asteroid to fly 16.76 times farther than the moon.
NASA explained: "When they gravitate around the Sun, objects close to the Earth can sometimes approach the Earth.
"Note that a" near "passage astronomically can be very far in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometers."
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