A large asteroid will pass between Earth and the moon on Saturday, a harmless once-a-decade event that will serve as a training exercise for the planet’s defenses, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced, AFP reported.

A large asteroid will fly closer to Earth than to the MoonPhoto: NASA/SWNS/SWNS/Profimedia

The asteroid, called 2023 DZ2, is estimated to be between 40 and 70 meters in diameter, which is enough to destroy a large city if it were to collide with our planet.

On Saturday, at 19:49 GMT (21:49 Romania), it will pass “very close” to Earth, less than a third of the distance to the Moon.

But there is no cause for concern, Richard Moisle, head of ESA’s planetary protection office, told Reuters.

The asteroid was first spotted on February 27 by an observer on La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

It will pass approximately 175,000 kilometers from Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour.

Small asteroids fly past us every day, but one this big comes close to Earth only once every ten years, according to Moisle.

Therefore, the International Asteroid Warning Network decided to take advantage of such a close encounter, and 2023 DZ2 will be analyzed using a number of instruments such as spectrometers and radars.

“The goal is to learn everything there is to know about the asteroid in just one week,” says the researcher. It will serve as a training exercise for how the network will “respond to such a threat” in the future, he added.

According to astronomers’ calculations, the asteroid will pass the Earth again in 2026, but at a greater distance and will not pose a collision risk for at least the next 100 years.

Astronomers discovered an asteroid of the same size, 2023 DW, and in early March estimated that the chance of a collision with Earth in 2046 was 1 in 432.

However, this probability has now been reduced following more accurate calculations and the risk has been eliminated.

If such an object were ever headed our way, Earth would not be defenseless.

Last year, NASA’s DART spacecraft deliberately crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos, about 11 million kilometers from Earth, managing to deflect its trajectory.