An asteroid nearly three times the size of the Empire State Building is set to fly-by Earth at a speed of 19.56km/second in a little over a week.
Known as asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1, the colossal space rock has an estimated length of about one kilometre.
The celestial body is classed as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHO), but an impact is unlikely.
Rather, the stony space rock will serve as a spectacle for stargazers.
READ MORE: NSW records 34,994 new COVID-19 cases as hospitalisations rise
NASA has calculated the rock will pass our little blue planet at a distance of around 1.98 million kilometres away on January 18.
For reference, Earth's distance to the moon is over five times less than that.
READ MORE: Deadly brown snake leaves behind 'rare' gift for snake catcher
The asteroid was first discovered in 1994 by Robert McNaught, an astronomer, at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
Its last close approach was 89 years ago on 17 January 1933.
READ MORE: Defence tactics to stop hazardous asteroids hitting Earth
If an asteroid over 140 metres in diameter impacted Earth, it would release an amount of energy at least a thousand times greater than the first atomic bomb, research from the Davidson Institute of Science found.
But to wipe out civilisation, one would have to be much bigger.
Planetary scientist at the University of Queensland Trevor Ireland previously told 9news.com.au civilisation-ending asteroids would have to measure more than a kilometre in diameter, at least, to cause an "extinction-level" event.
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and formed the Chicxulub crater in Mexico is estimated to have been around 9.6 kilometres in diameter.
"There's about a million one kilometre asteroids in the asteroid belt," Professor Ireland said.
"The likelihood of one of those suddenly meandering down to Earth is very remote."
NASA has previously stated Earth will not be at risk from a PHO for more than 100 year, when Asteroid Bennu completes a fly-by.
The space rock is about 492 metres in diameter.
Should it hit though, studies show it would create a crater between 10 to 20 times its size - and cause an area of devastation that could reach 100 times the size of the crater.
