'Potentially Hazardous': Asteroid Measuring More Than 1,000m in Diameter Will Pass by Earth in March

Though possessing considerable size and velocity, the asteroid does not seem to pose a clear and immediate threat to our planet, as it's apparently going to pass us by at a distance vastly exceeding that between Earth and the moon.

A massive space rock about a kilometre wide is expected to whistle past Earth next month.

Designated 231937 (2001 FO32), the asteroid should pass us on 21 March, as it cruises through the solar system at a speed of about 34.4 km/s (that's about 123,000 km/h), according to the Daily Express.

"Despite the rock’s considerable size and velocity, it does not appear to pose any threat to Earth, as it will sail past at some 5.3 lunar distances," the newspaper adds citing NASA.

Nevertheless, the US space agency reportedly classified the asteroid as "potentially hazardous" – the Express says status refers to "the sentiment that somewhere down the line in the solar system's future, an asteroid could collide with Earth."