A Nearly Mile-Wide Asteroid With Its Own Moon Hurtles Past Earth This Weekend

An asteroid that’s nearly a mile wide and has its own moon is set to zip by Earth during the weekend.

Together, the two space rocks are known as a binary asteroid system, meaning two asteroids that orbit each other. The binary asteroid, called 1999 KW4 by NASA, will be around 3 million miles away from Earth at its closest point around 7:05 p.m. ET on Saturday, NBC News reports.

Although some outlets have noted that the asteroid, discovered in 1999, is classified as “potentially hazardous,” scientists stress there is absolutely no danger of it hitting Earth.

The larger body in the pair, which is nearly a mile wide, has a large ridge around its equator that makes it look like a spinning top, according to CBS News. The smaller rock is about a third of the size of its companion.

The binary asteroid system in a NASA rendering. (Photo: NASA)

University of Arizona planetary scientist Vishnu Reddy told NBC that the asteroid system will be “one of the closest binary flybys probably in recent history,” but that it still will be too far away to be visible to the naked eye.

1999 KW4 will zip past Earth again in 2036, LiveScience notes. It again will be too far away to pose a collision risk.

Also on HuffPost

The Asteroid Belt Between Mars and Jupiter

This illustration shows the doughnut-shaped asteroid belt situated between the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroids In Space

Artist rendering of asteroids in space

Asteroid Vesta

Image captured by NASAs Dawn spacecraft in 2012.

Vesta Close-up

Close-up of Vesta photographed by NASAs Dawn spacecraft. Scientists believe the asteroid may contain water ice.

Asteroid Itokawa

The near-Earth asteroid Itokawa. The boulder-free, smooth areas are filled with small, uniformly-sized particles.

Another Angle of Itokawa

Itokawa asteroid photographed by Japans Hayabusa spacecraft.

Itokawa (3)

A third image of asteroid Itokawa photographed by Japans Hayabusa spacecraft in 2005.

Asteroid Ceres (1)

The largest object in the asteroid belt is the circular shaped Ceres. Since 2015, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has orbited and photographed the nearly 600-mile-wide dwarf planet, including its numerous brightly lit areas, like the two bright lights of the crater called Occator.

Ceres (2)

Ceres Occator crater — photographed by the Dawn spacecraft — is 57 miles across and 25 miles deep and includes very bright surface areas that scientists suggest may be caused by volcanic activity, icy origins or salt deposits.

Earth, Moon, Ceres Size Comparison

A comparison of the size differences between Earth, the moon and asteroid Ceres.

Asteroid Lutetia (1)

Image of asteroid Lutetia captured by European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft on July 10, 2010.

Lutetia (2)

Asteroid Lutetia close-up view as captured by Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft in July 2010.

The Halloween Asteroid

Individual radar images of the Halloween asteroid, 2015 TB145, photographed Oct. 31, 2015, by NASA’s DSS-14 antenna in Goldstone, California, and the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia.

Asteroid Gaspra

Over 600 craters larger than 100 meters in diameter are seen in this image of the irregularly shaped Gaspra asteroid, photographed by the Galileo spacecraft on Oct. 29, 1991.

Asteroid Mathilde

Asteroid Mathilde was photographed on June 27, 1997, by NASA’s NEAR — Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous — spacecraft, 2,400 km away from the asteroid.

Asteroid Eros

Close-up image of Eros photographed by NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft in 2000.

Asteroid Steins

The 5-km-wide asteroid, Steins, photographed at 800 km. Scientists don’t know how the asteroid survived the impact that left a 15-km crater.

Asteroid 2017 BQ6

This 11-image composite of asteroid 2017 BQ6 was created by radar data from NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar in California’s Mojave Desert, Feb. 5, 2017, just five hours before the space rock’s closest approach to Earth.

Near-Earth Asteroid 2005 YU55

Near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55, a potentially dangerous item, was photographed by the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico on April 19, 2010, about 1 million miles from Earth.

Asteroid Ida 243 and Small Moon Dactyl

The Galileo spacecraft snapped this image of asteroid 243 Ida and its small moon Dactyl.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

source: yahoo.com