![\"Moon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/39e802e2fc6eebb4f716a23ca28ea3aa.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA massive asteroid nearly the size of a New York skyscraper will make a close approach, or pass, by Earth in the early hours of Sept. 18, according to scientists.<\/p>\n
They say the asteroid, officially dubbed “2025 FA22,” is set to race past the planet at more than 24,000 mph, and will do so again in 2089 and 2173.<\/p>\n
The asteroid measures between 427 and 951 feet across, similar in size to a large skyscraper.<\/p>\n
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have confirmed it poses no immediate threat because updated measurements have ruled out a collision and the asteroid has now been taken off the risk table.<\/p>\n
“Impacts on this scale are rare, but the consequences would be catastrophic,” ESA researchers said, with the pass Thursday morning offering a rare opportunity to study a skyscraper-sized asteroid up close.<\/p>\n
Astronomers first detected 2025 FA22 in March using a special telescope in Hawaii. It was then added to ESA\u2019s watch list of possible dangerous asteroids.<\/p>\n
Because of its size and speed, if 2025 FA22 did strike Earth, it could crush a major city and other areas, setting off fires and tsunamis.<\/p>\n
People won\u2019t be able to see 2025 FA22, but astronomers with strong telescopes or binoculars could spot it as a faint dot against the stars around 3:40 a.m. ET Sept. 18.<\/p>\n
Asteroids are rocky formations of the solar system from billions of years ago that are seen orbiting the sun and can be different sizes.<\/p>\n
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NASA estimates more than 1.3 million asteroids are in the solar system, with over 30,000 classified as near-Earth objects.<\/p>\n
NASA’s Asteroid Watch always monitors asteroids that could come within 4.6 million miles of Earth.<\/p>\n
Any object larger than 492 feet passing within 4.6 million miles of Earth earns a “potentially hazardous” label.<\/p>\n