Asteroid as big as a 'city block' to hurtle past Earth

The asteroid is estimated to be 2,000 to 4,500 feet wide, and qualifies as a 'near Earth object'. NEA (near-Earth asteroid) 2002 AM31 is described as 'the size of a city block', the 'Daily Mail' reported.

It will pass through space 14 times further from Earth than the Moon.The space rock will be tracked live by cameras on Earth and in space.

"The entire astronomical community has reversed its thinking about them over the past few decades. Instead of living on an 'island Earth' with little or no connection with other celestial objects, we now feel that collisions with comets or asteroids change the evolution of our biosphere, and maybe even seeded our world with the amino acids that started life long ago," Astronomy magazine's Bob Berman said.

 

The Slooh website will stream the event online.