Although, asteroids zip past earth quite often, they never usually come that close to earth to hit us. According to NASA, there's another such incident about to happen next month, but this one might be slightly different.

© universetoday

No, we're not about to be hit, nothing and no one is destroying our precious earth, except for us. What makes it stand apart is the enormous size of 4.4 kilometre, and the fact that this chunk of rock will be the largest near-Earth object to come this close since NASA set up its Near Earth Observations program in 1998.

© NASA/JPL-Caltech

It won't come close enough to pose a threat, but rather it will be great opportunity for astronomers to study this orbiting space mountain up close.

© NASA

Named ‘Florence Nightingale', the asteroid isn't expected to come any closer than 7 million kilometres. ‘She' hasn't been this close to our planet since 1890, and another brush is not expected till 2500. So, this really is a once in a lifetime kind of a thing.

© NASA/JPL-Caltech

“While many known asteroids have passed by closer to Earth than Florence will on September 1, all of those were estimated to be smaller,” says Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). “Florence is the largest asteroid to pass by our planet this close since the NASA program to detect and track near-Earth asteroids began.”

Images for representational purpose only.