Eiffel Tower-sized Asteroid to Fly Past Earth on Saturday

A huge asteroid the size of the Eiffel Tower is set to pass earth on Saturday, December 11.

The egg-shaped asteroid, named 4660 Nereus, is 1,082 feet (330 meters) long and will pass Earth at 14,700 mph (23,700 km/h).

Nereus was discovered by Eleanor F. Helin on February 28, 1982, and was named after the Greek sea god who was the son of Gaia, the personification of the Earth.

The 330-meter long space rock will be roughly 2.4 million miles away (3.86 million km)- which is a distance of around 10 times greater than that between the Earth and moon.

NASA experts have been identified it as a "potentially hazardous asteroid”. The agency flags any space object that comes within 120 million miles (193 million kilometers) of Earth as a "near-Earth object" and any fast-moving object within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million km) as "potentially hazardous."

However, despite the fears over the impact the asteroid could have, it appears that there will be little threat posed to the planet.

The 330-meter long space rock is said to be larger than 90%of asteroids, but it is tiny compared to larger ones, according to Space Reference.

4660 Nereus is not expected to come close to Earth again until March 2, 2031, and November 2050.

Experts say that it will get much closer to the Earth in February 2060, when it is expected to reach around 1.2m kilometers within the planet.

Asteroid 4660 Nereus will reach a visual magnitude of around 12, far too faint to see with the eye. Those who desire to observe it would need at least an 8-inch (20-cm) telescope, or larger.