A gigantic

asteroid

, four times larger than the Empire State Building, is approaching Earth this Friday, according to the specialized website LiveScience.com, citing NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

According to this medium, which cites NASA, it is

the largest asteroid

that will approach Earth this year.

According to this page, the asteroid, named

7335 (1989 JA),

will miss Earth by about

4 million kilometers

, or almost 10 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon.

Still, given the space rock's massive size - 1.8km in diameter - and relatively close proximity to Earth, NASA has classified the asteroid as

"potentially hazardous"

, meaning it could cause enormous damage. to our planet if its orbit changes and the rock hits the Earth.

The reality is that

7335 (1989 JA)

is a class of asteroid called the Apollo class, which refers to

asteroids that orbit the sun

while periodically crossing Earth's orbit.

This asteroid is one of more than 29,000 near-

Earth

objects (NEOs) that

NASA

tracks each year.

Most of these objects are extremely small;

7335 (1989 JA) measures over about 99% of the NEOs that

NASA

tracks .

Scientists estimate that the asteroid is traveling at about 76,000 km/h, or 20 times faster than a bullet.

This asteroid is not expected to approach Earth until at least 2055, when it will pass even farther than it will tomorrow.

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