Asteroid 2023 BU, which was recently discovered by an amateur astronomer, will zoom by the southern tip of South America at around 12.27am in the early hours of the morning, according to NASA.
It will pass just 3,600km from Earth's surface, much closer than many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.
But there is no risk that the asteroid will hit Earth, NASA said in a statement.
Even if it did, the asteroid measuring 3.5-8.5 metres across would largely disintegrate in the Earth's atmosphere, potentially just resulting in a few small meteorites.
https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2023/0126/1351977-asteroid-nasa/
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