Asteroid flyby: A 390m rock will safely zip past Earth tomorrow at speeds of 53,000mph

Asteroid flyby: A 390m rock will safely zip past Earth tomorrow at speeds of 53,000mph

AN ASTEROID flying through space at speeds of nearly 53,000mph is expected to safely swing past Earth tomorrow morning

Now, NASA expects the space rock to come flying by on a so-called "Earth close approach" this week on March 27.

But the asteroid will only come "close" in astronomical terms, which means it will be many millions of miles away.

NASA said: "As they orbit the Sun, NEOs can occasionally approach close to Earth.

"Note that a 'close' passage astronomically can be very far away in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometres."

On March 27, the rock will zip by from a distance of about 0.04453 astronomical units.

A single astronomical unit describes the distance from our planet to the Sun - about 93 million miles (149.6 million km).

Asteroid XA133 will cut this down to about 4.1 million miles (6.66 million km).

In other words, even at its closest, the space rock will be 17.33 times as far away as the Moon is.

The asteroid belongs to a family of asteroids and comets known as near-Earth objects (NEOs).

NASA frequently visit the planet and ping-up on NASA's radars.

The space rocks are also tracked by the European Space Agency.

According to NASA, the comets and asteroids have all been nudged into Earth's cosmic "neighbourhood" by the gravitational push and pull of other planets in the solar system.

NASA said: "Some asteroids and comets follow orbital paths that take them much closer to the Sun and therefore Earth - than usual.

At the lower end of the estimate, the space rock is taller than St Paul's Cathedral in London.

The asteroid is also flying through space at speeds of about 23.67km per second or 52,948mph (85,212kmh).

Although big asteroids have struck Earth in the past, NASA does not know of any threat to the planet's safety.

NASA said: "In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years