Asteroid set to fly past Earth

SKY watchers are gearing up for a close encounter next week as an asteroid that may be up to half a mile across is set to hurtle past Earth.

The space rock, called 2004 XP14, will pass “exceptionally close” to the planet in what is seen as a near miss in astronomical terms: 268,624 miles away at its closest moment early on Monday. That is just 1.1 times the Moon’s average distance from Earth.

It was discovered in December 2004 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research (Linear).