Asteroid 1998 QE2, a massive space rock nearly to 2 miles wide, will fly past the Earth this Friday.
NASA officials say that the asteroid will not pose a threat to the Earth and will get no closer than 3.6 million miles from the planet, reported NBC News.
But even though the asteroid does not pose a threat to the Earth, the White House and NASA say the event will be used to look into planetary science.
“Let’s find the asteroids before they find us, and in the process learn more about the secrets of the solar system and other potential opportunities these space rocks present,” said Phil Larson, a White House space and aeronautics advisor, according to a blog posting.
Larson said that President Barack Obama’s new budget “calls for increased efforts by NASA to detect and mitigate potentially hazardous asteroids, and NASA is studying a robotic mission to capture and bring a small asteroid into a stable orbit just beyond the Moon,” he said.
The 1998 QE2 will make its closest approach to the Earth in two centuries, reported Space.com. The asteroid was discovered on Aug. 19, 1998 by MIT’s Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Program.
The website noted that it is unlikely that skywatchers will able to find the 1998 QE2 without the aid of a telescope.
