Asteroid four times size of Empire State Building heading for ‘close approach’

NASA is watching a huge space rock that’s over a mile wide and it’s about to make a close approach to Earth.

Asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) is firmly on Nasa’s Earth Close Approaches table and stands out as one of the largest space rocks on the list.

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The US space agency estimates that the mega asteroid is just over 5905 feet wide.

That means it’s over 1.1 miles across.

In comparison, New York’s iconic Empire State Building stands at 1,454 feet tall.

An asteroid of this size would cause some serious damage if it hit Earth.

Fortunately for us earthlings, Asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) is expected to pass us from around 2.5million miles away.

That’s still close enough to Earth for Nasa to flag it as a “close approach”.

If an asteroid comes within 4.65million miles of Earth and is over a certain size, it’s considered “potentially hazardous” by cautious space agencies.

Asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) matches this description.

The huge asteroid is expected to complete its fly past on May 27.

It should shoot past Earth at over 29,000 miles per hour.

The closest approach is expected at 3:26pm BST (10:26am ET).

The May 27 event should be the closest this particularly large asteroid gets to us for the next 200 years.

It won’t be visible with the unaided eye but astronomers should be able to get a good look with a good telescope.

How to spot the huge asteroid

According to Earth Sky, budding astronomers can try and spot the asteroid a couple of days before May 27 with a backyard telescope.

The asteroid should be reflecting sunlight on May 25, making it easier to spot as it appears like a slow moving star.

You’ll need to face south in the late evening and angle your telescope to the left of the Hydra constellation if you want to try and see the giant space rock.