An enormous asteroid that is believed to be five times the size of the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, will skim past the earth Wednesday (April 29). The asteroid, called 1998 OR2, will be at its closest approach to earth and reach within 3.9 million miles on April 29 morning.

The details were shared by NASA through its verified Twitter account NASA Asteroid Watch. A distance of 6.2 million kilometres from the earth is considered a close shave in the astronomical scales involved.

The tweet read: "Asteroid 1998 OR2 will safely pass by Earth at a distance of 3.9 million miles/6.2 million km on April 29. Astronomers studying the #asteroid with radar are also keeping a safe distance—from each other! Just another day for #planetarydefense."

Asteroid 1998 OR2 will safely pass by Earth at a distance of 3.9 million miles/6.2 million km on April 29. Astronomers studying the #asteroid with radar are also keeping a safe distance—from each other! Just another day for #planetarydefense https://t.co/32BSc0TkPM

— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) April 20, 2020

The asteroid which is estimated to measure 1.5 miles wide, will remain at a safe distance from earth and poses no threat to our planet. Space.com makes it clear that the 1998 OR2 will remain "16 times further from us than the moon is from us."

"There are no asteroids that have any significant chance of hitting the Earth that is of any significant size. There are none on our list," Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. He was at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and said the same during a pre-recorded "NASA Science Live" webcast on Monday as quoted by the aforementioned publication.

As per the report, NASA has created a "comprehensive" list of flybys. It is said that scientists have discovered and tracked more than 90 percent of the near-Earth asteroids also known as NEAs.

Asteroid whizzed past Earth
Whale-sized asteroid whizzed past Earth, noticed one day later Nasa

1998OR2 is an asteroid on an eccentric orbit that was discovered by astronomers of the NEAT program on July 24, 1998. It is classified as one of the brightest and potentially hazardous asteroids. However, travelling at the speeds of 19,438 miles/hour the asteroid will safely pass through Earth. The close encounter can be viewed live online for free on The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0.

NASA