A large asteroid known as 1998 QE2 is scheduled to pass earth closer than it ever has before this month.
There is no need to worry however, as the giant space rock won't come closer than 3.6 million miles, or 15 times the distance between the Earth and the moon according to a report by The Independent.
Scientists named the asteroid after QE2 and is believed to be 1.7 miles long, or nine times the length of the Queen Elizabeth 2 ship.
The asteroid was discovered on Aug. 19, 1998 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near Earth Research program in New Mexico.
The space rock will make its closest approach to Earth during the afternoon on May 31.
Many experts are planning on observing the asteroid as it passes earth to learn more about it by using the Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, C.A. and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico according to the Los Angeles Times.
Astronomers at both locations will track the space rock from May 31 to June 9.
"With radar we can transform an object from a point of light into a small world with its own characteristics," Lance Benner, JPL's principal investigator for Goldstone radar observations, said in a statement.
The next time the asteroid will be this close to Earth again will be in 2119.
Scientists have determined in the past that if the asteroid were to ever crash into Earth, it would completely destroy it.
"This is a really big asteroid, similar in size to the one that killed off the dinosaurs, and it's getting very close to us," she said. "Fortunately we've been tracking its orbit very carefully so we know with great certainty it won't hit us.
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