Nasa is closely tracking an asteroid large enough to destroy a city that was set to whiz past Earth yesterday in what the US space agency says is the closest flyby ever predicted for such a large object.
The 150-feet wide asteroid -- dubbed 2012 DA 14 -- is expected to pass about 17,200 miles (27,000 kilometers) above the Earth at the time of closest approach, about 2:25 pm EST, Nasa said.
"This distance is well away from Earth and the swarm of low Earth-orbiting satellites, including the International Space Station," it said in a statement on its website.
Still, "the flyby of 2012 DA14 is the closest-ever predicted approach to Earth for an object this large."
The asteroid isn't nearly as large as the 10-kilometer (six-mile) wide object that took out the dinosaurs, but would be large enough to wipe out a large urban area if it were to strike the Earth's surface.
The asteroid will be visible in eastern Europe, Australia and Asia, according to astronomers.