Giant asteroid to fly near Earth this month. Here’s how close it will get. - nj.com

A giant asteroid known as 4660 Nereus will be speeding toward the Earth this month, making its closest approach on Dec.

A huge asteroid as large as the Eiffel Tower is zipping through space and will make a “near-Earth” approach this month.

Experts say the giant space rock, which is about 1,082 feet wide, will not pose a threat to our planet because it will remain about 2.4 million miles away from us during its closest approach on Dec.

The giant space rock, known as Asteroid 4660 Nereus, will be streaking past the Earth next week at a speed estimated at more than 14,000 miles per hour.

A rendering of the DART spacecraft that NASA hopes to use to redirect a large asteroid as part of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test.

In late November, NASA launched a spacecraft on a special mission to smash into an asteroid and test whether it would be possible to knock a speeding space rock off course if one were to threaten Earth.

The DART spacecraft — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

If all goes well, the boxy, 1,200-pound craft will slam head-on into Dimorphos, an asteroid that is 525 feet wide and traveling at a speed of 15,000 mph, in September 2022.