An asteroid is going to come pretty darn close to Earth on Friday – although as always , there ’s no chance of it hit us .

The asteroid is called2018 CB , and it ’s going to exit Earth on February 9 at a distance of about 64,000 km ( 39,000 miles ) . That ’s five times closer than the Moon , enough to label it as a potentially wild asteroid ( PHA ) . you’re able to watch itfly by onlinefrom 3 promethium EDT on Friday .

It ’s estimated to be between 15 and 40 meters ( 50 and 130 feet ) across . It was discovered fair recently , only being spot by the NASA - funded Catalina Sky Survey ( CSS ) in Arizona on February 4 .

2018 CB is anApollo asteroid , which is a grouping of 8,000 near - Earth asteroid that orb in the intimate Solar System , and regularly get over Earth ’s area . About 1,500 of them are classified as PHAs .

The orbit of this asteroid takes it about to about 1.68 AU from the Sun ( 1 AU , astronomical unit , is the distance from Earth to the Sun ) . That ’s about the same distance from the Sun that Elon Musk’sTesla Roadster , launched the other 24-hour interval , willreach .

" Although 2018 CB is quite small , it might well be larger than the asteroid that entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk , Russia , almost exactly five year ago , in 2013 , " said Paul Chodas , manager of the Center for Near - Earth Object Studies at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , California , in astatement .

" asteroid of this sizing do not often go about this close to our planet – perchance only once or twice a year . "

It follows on the heels of another asteroid , 2018 CC , which swing past Earth on Tuesday , February 6 . That asteroid measured 15 to 30 meter ( 50 to 100 understructure ) across , and come within 184,000 kilometer ( 114,000 miles ) of our planet .

PHAs are assort as objects that top 500 feet ( 140 meters ) in size and come closer than 7.5 million kilometer ( 4.6 million mile ) to Earth . presently , there isno known asteroid – PHA or otherwise – on a collision class with Earth in the next few centuries at least . Phew .

Still , the close call of this asteroid is a admonisher of the billion of space rock out there in the Solar System – and we really need toget betterat track them . One might have our name on it one day , so we ’d better be ready .