Asteroid to make closest pass by Earth in known history

An 150-foot asteroid will be passing by Earth on Feb. 15, the Associated Press reported.

How close, you ask? The asteroid will be at least 17,000 miles away from our planet on Friday. If you don’t think that’s close, then think again.

The asteroid’s proximity to Earth will be the closest in recorded history — so close, in fact, that it will enter the orbits of many of our satellites, National Geographic reported.

"This is indeed a remarkably close approach for an asteroid this size," said Paul Chodas, a research scientist at NASA. "We estimate that an asteroid of this size passes [approximately] this close to the Earth only once every few decades."

The asteroid, which is as wide as half the length of a football field, was first spotted by scientists a year ago when it first passed the Earth at a much more comfortable 2.6 million miles away. Researchers don’t see any cause for concern this time around and don’t envision the giant rock hitting a satellite.

If an impact were to happen, which in all likelihood won’t occur, it would release the energy compared to 2.4 million tons of TNT on impact. That impact could wipe out 750 square miles.

So for now, just sit back and wait for the passing of one really huge, close rock.