NASA issues warning about a stadium-sized asteroid approaching Earth tomorrow

NASA has issued a warning that an asteroid the size of a football field will approach Earth on Tuesday.

Asteroid 2024 ON is 290 meters (950 feet) in diameter and will approach Earth at a distance of 1 million kilometers, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The space rock last passed Earth in 2013, and it will come close again in 2035, according to NASA data.

The object was first spotted by NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) program, which uses observatories around the world to detect undiscovered near-Earth objects.

The asteroid is being tracked by the Virtual Telescope Project, which captured images of the “potentially hazardous” asteroid on September 9 as it moved at about 40,000 kilometers per hour.

At a minimum distance of 2.6 times the average lunar distance, 2024 ON poses no danger to Earth on its current path, but even a small deviation could have serious consequences.

The asteroid's massive size makes it 99 percent larger than any other near-Earth object, but it won't pass close enough to be seen without a telescope.

On the same day the Moon reaches its closest point to Earth, skywatchers will be able to see a rare partial lunar eclipse that coincides with a supermoon full.

The celestial spectacle will be visible across Europe and Africa, with viewing also possible in parts of North and South America, as well as Asia.

Later in the month, a smaller asteroid will become a temporary “mini-moon” as it is pulled into orbit around Earth for two months.

Asteroid 2024 PT5 is only about 10 meters in diameter, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Research Notes of the American Association for Scienceand was once part of the moon.

The asteroid will remain in Earth's orbit from September 29 to November 25, according to the study.