Asteroid 3 times the size of Taj Mahal to fly past Earth on Saturday - fox8.com

An asteroid expected to pass by Earth (not pictured) has been classified by NASA as Apollo, a class that holds the most dangerous asteroids.

(NEXSTAR) — An asteroid about the size of a stadium — or three times the size of the Taj Mahal — is set to speed past Earth on Saturday.

The asteroid, called “2008Go20,” is hurtling towards Earth at 18,000 mph, according to NASA.

Sized about 220 meters in diameter, 2008Go20 will be 0.04 au (astronomical units) away from Earth — a distance of 3,718,232 miles, according to NASA’s calculations.

In March, the asteroid Apophis, roughly the size of three football fields, passed by Earth approximately 10.4 million miles away — nearly 44 times as far away as the moon.

Initial calculations indicated there was a small possibility the asteroid could impact Earth in 2029, and it earned the nickname “God of Chaos.” NASA has since deemed Earth safe from the asteroid for the next 100 years.