NASA discovers an asteroid the size of a football field is hurtling toward Earth. While the asteroid will pass the planet, it is still coming close enough that NASA issued a warning.

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) estimates that Asteroid 2008 OS7 measures between 690 and 1,570 feet across. For comparison, the Eiffel Tower is about 980 feet, and the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall.

Again, the end of the world is not here! The asteroid is passing by the Earth at a distance of 1.77 million miles. For reference, the moon orbits at a distance of 240,000 miles and the Earth’s closest neighbor Venus is 38 million miles away.

Scientists have classified this asteroid as potentially hazardous due to the significant impact it could have on Earth if it were to collide. The size of the asteroid would cause a crater 11 miles wide, and vaporize about 2 million people.

Dr. Minjae Kim, a research fellow in the University of Warwick’s physics department, said: “We don’t need to worry about it too much as this asteroid will not enter Earth’s atmosphere, while it will still approach close to the Earth.”

What classifies an asteroid as a “Near Earth Object” (NEO) or a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) is its size and how close it will come to the Earth. NEOs are defined as being within 30 million miles of Earth. Over 31,000 solar systems objects fall into this category.

“A potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) is one that has an orbit intersecting the Earth’s orbit around the Sun by less than 0.05 astronomical units (1 AU is the distance to the Sun), that’s just over 4.5 million miles,” professor of astrophysics and space science Martin Barstow told Newsweek.

The Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for monitoring asteroid risks. The Asteroid Belt, nestled between Mars and Jupiter, shelters most of the leftover chunks of rock from the solar system’s formation.

Occasionally, Jupiter’s gravity or collisions with the Asteroid Belt will fling one of these asteroids into the inner solar system. This is what sends an asteroid toward Earth. Luckily, these asteroids typically never hit the Earth.

On April 14, 2029, Apophis will be coming near the Earth. Estimated to be about 1,100 feet (335) meters across, Apophis is one of the most hazardous PHA that could impact the Earth.

It is unlikely that you will see Asteroid 2008 OS7 in the sky. “This asteroid completes an orbit around the sun every 962 days (2.63 years). One of the most intriguing aspects of the 2008 OS7 is its estimated diameter based on its luminosity and reflective properties, ranging from 0.221 to 0.494 kilometers,” Kim said.

NASA takes these threats very seriously and has been sending out asteroid deflection tests to protect the planet from potential harm. In 2022, NASA sent out its first asteroid deflection test to alter the orbit of a small moonlet Dimorphos.