asteroid three times the size of a football pitch and travelling at 27,000 miles per hour will pass close to Earth tonight.
The 'potentially hazardous' object, named 2000 EM26, will come within about 1.6 million miles (2.6 million km) of Earth at 9pm EST (2am GMT February 18).
Despite its ominous-spouding classification, scientists claim the near-Earth asteroid 2000 EM26, which is about 885ft (270m) in diameter, poses no threat of hitting the planet.
