110-foot asteroid set to fly by Earth on Valentine’s Day

Scientists have classified the space rock as ‘potentially hazardous’ due to its size (Picture: Getty Images)

Nasa has warned of a giant asteroid that’s set to make a ‘close approach’ to Earth on Valentine’s Day.

According to Nasa’s Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies, the asteroid – known as 2023 CP – will pass Earth on Tuesday at around 5.45 pm.

This space rock routinely passes by Earth every 624 days as it orbits the Sun.

The asteroid is roughly the size of an aeroplane and is expected to get as close as 6,590,000 km to Earth.

That’s more than the distance between the Earth and the moon which is around 385,000 km – so we’ll probably be alright.

But scientists have classified the space rock as ‘potentially hazardous’ due to its size – as an asteroid that big could cause devastating damage if it hits Earth.

110-foot asteroid set to fly by Earth this Valentine’s Day (Picture: Nasa)

For perspective, the meteor that that wiped out the dinosaurs was about 10km to 15km wide.

In 1908, another asteroid around 100m to 200m in diameter crashed into eastern Siberia, flattening entire forests.

This is not the first time a gigantic asteroid has had a close brush with our planet.

Last year, an asteroid larger than two football pitches crossed paths with the Earth – but thankfully nothing terrible happened.

Just this week, an asteroid exploded over the English Channel after entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

Even if the asteroid was an immediate threat, Nasa has the technology to take care of it.

Last September, it successfully crashed a spacecraft into a small asteroid as part of a planetary protection test mission, changing its collision course with the Earth.

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The asteroid is the size of an aeroplane.