Asteroid four times the size of the Empire State Building barreling toward Earth on May 27

An asteroid four times the size of the Empire State Building will make a close approach to Earth on May 27.

The asteroid, named 7335, will miss our planet by about 2.5 million miles, or nearly 10 times the average distance between Earth and the moon. NASA has classified the space rock as potentially hazardous, meaning it could do enormous damage to our planet if it ever goes around.

What are the largest impact craters?

The largest asteroid that will make a close approach to Earth this year is 7335. The asteroid is traveling at a rate of about 47,200 mph, which is 20 times faster than a bullet. The rock will not fly by again until June 23, 2055, when it will pass even farther away than this flyby.

NASA tracks more than 29,000 near-Earth objects each year. According to NASA, a NEO is an object that passes within about 48 million km of Earth's equator. The majority of these objects are very small; 7335 is larger than 99% of the other NEOs that NASA follows.

Live Science previously reported that 7335 fits into a class of asteroids called the Apollo-class, which refers to asteroids that occasionally cross Earth's path. About 15,000 such asteroids are known by the astronomer.

NASA recently launched a mission to test whether potentially hazardous asteroids could be diverted from a collision course with Earth. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was launched by NASA in November of 2021. Live Science previously reported that the collision won't destroy the asteroid, but it may change the rock's path slightly.

It was originally published on Live Science.