WATCH: Orbit of asteroid 2012 TC4 TRACKED

A video created by Nasa shows asteroid 2012 TC4 swing in past the orbit of Mars before it travels along with Earth for some time.

After it comes close to Earth, the asteroid then continues on its orbit where it travels out into space.

However, the trajectory of the orbit shows that once it has gone back out past the orbital path of Mars, it could swing back in towards the sun on a rapid path towards the Red Planet.

Asteroid 2012 TC4 will whizz past Earth on October 12 at a distance of just 31,000 miles – around an eighth of the distance between the Earth and the moon.

Nasa will use the extremely close fly by to gather valuable data on the space rock.

Michael Kelley, program scientist and Nasa Headquarters lead for the TC4 observation campaign, said: “Scientists have always appreciated knowing when an asteroid will make a close approach to and safely pass the Earth because they can make preparations to collect data to characterise and learn as much as possible about it.

“This time we are adding in another layer of effort, using this asteroid flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid threat.”

A map from Nasa shows that 2012 TC4 will enter the space between the Earth and the moon’s orbit diagonally from just north of east, before it shoots back out into outer space.

At between 10 and 30 metres in size, it is believed to be bigger than the Chelyabinsk meteor which exploded above Russia, damaging thousands of buildings and injuring 1,500 people in 2013.