Come March 27, the space rock, dubbed 2014-YB35, will come within precisely 11.6 lunar distances to our planet

Mar 25, 2015 08:09 GMT  ·  By

If you're the kind of guy or gal who likes to browse through the news while sipping their morning coffee, you might have come across reports saying that a huge asteroid is set to buzz by our planet in a couple of days and might just hit us, ending the world as we know it.

Well, there is one thing these reports got right: an asteroid will indeed fly by Earth this coming Friday, March 27. The part about how the space rock poses a real threat to our planet and has NASA and other space agencies on high alert (yes, stuff like this has been said) is, excuse the bluntness, mumbo-jumbo.

There is nothing whatsoever to worry about, pinky promise

The space rock that sparked all this conundrum goes by the name of 2014-YB35. It was discovered on December 27, 2014 by astronomers working on the Catalina Sky Survey, a project to identify and study comets and asteroids that could prove a threat to Earth.

This Friday, March 27, asteroid 2014-YB35 will come within 11.6 lunar distances to our planet. What this means is that, when it makes its closest approach, the space rock will be 11.6 times further away from our planet than the Moon.

In other words, 2014-YB35 will not come any closer than 4.5 million kilometers (2.8 million miles) from Earth. True, this distance can be described as a “near miss” if compared to the vastness of space, but scientists promise that it's more than enough to ensure our safety.

Since it was first discovered in December 2014 until now, the space rock has been observed on 380 occasions. Astronomers estimate that it measures between 440 and 990 meters (approximately 1,440 to 3,250 feet) across at its widest point.

Add to this the fact that the asteroid is moving through space at a speed of 10.6 kilometers per second (about 6.6 miles per second) and it's pretty obvious that, were it to collide with our planet, it would wreak all sorts of havoc. Good thing this won't happen, right?

Another space rock about the same size visited us in January

On January 26, another space rock similar in size to 2014-YB35 flew by our planet. This other asteroid came within just 1.2 million kilometers (750,000 miles) from Earth, way closer than 2014-YB35 will on Friday. Rather than hit us, asteroid 2004-BL86 simply continued its journey.

Astronomers say that, following this coming Friday's visit, we won't see 2014-YB35 again until 2033, when the space rock is expected to once again buzz by our planet and make its closest approach at 3.2 million kilometers (roughly 2 million miles).