An asteroid the length of four rugby fields will be speeding through Earth’s solar system tomorrow, at a closer proximity to us than the moon. Nothing of this magnitude has come nearly as close to colliding with our planet for 30 years. But rest assured the asteroid is not going to hit us. Not yet, anyway.

Scientists who have been studying its trajectory say it will be at least another hundred years before there is any threat of such a collision with Earth. Considering the asteroid is travelling at around 19km per second in relation to our planet’s speed, and would be likely to take out an entire continent should it crash into the Earth, I guess we should thank our lucky stars.

The fine people of Australia will have the best chance of catching a glimpse of the asteroid – named 2005 YU55 – tomorrow at about 10h30.

[Source: Sydney Morning Herald]