The asteroid, dubbed by NASA Asteroid 2019 GN, flew past our home planet on a so-called “Earth Close Approach “ trajectory. NASA’s asteroid trackers said the space rock skimmed the Earth in the wee morning hours of Saturday, April 13. Astronomers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have further narrowed the flyby down to 2.08am UK time (1.08am UTC). This moment marked the asteroid’s closest possible approach to the Earth as it barrels around the Sun.

When this happened, NASA's JPL estimated the asteroid peaked at speeds of around 26,574.8mph (42,768kph) or 11.88km per second. To make matters even more terrifying, NASA said the space rock managed to approach the Earth from a distance of 0.00443 astronomical units (au). One astronomical unit measures approximately 93 million miles (149.6 million km), which is the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Asteroid GN considerably trimmed this down to just 411,794 miles or 662,718.6km. READ MORE: How often do asteroids hit Earth?

NASA asteroid tracker:

In other words, the asteroid passed from an incredibly close distance of 1.72 Lunar Distances (LD) or 1.72 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. But the good news is there is no immediate risk of the asteroid striking our home planet at any point in the foreseeable future. Asteroid GN is a so-called “Near-Earth Object” or NEO, which means it occasionally crosses paths with Earth’s orbit. NEOs are all comets and asteroids zipping through Earth’s corner of space. READ MORE: Watch major asteroid DESTROY Earth in fiery crash simulation

The European Space Agency (ESA) explained: “The word NEO stands for Near-Earth Object, indicating a small body of the Solar System which can come into the Earth neighbourhood.

Near-Earth Objects can occasionally approach close to Earth NASA

“A broad classification of NEOs distinguishes NECs, Near-Earth Comets, from, NEAs, Near-Earth Asteroid, which constitute the vast majority of NEOs.” According to NASA, the large bulk of asteroids dashing past the Earth have been nudged into the inner circles of the solar system by nearby planets. Many of these rocky objects have formed in the inner rings of the system between the planet Mars and Jupiter. READ MORE: NASA plans to save Earth by derailing a 2,600FT asteroid system

NASA asteroid tracker: The giant space rock will come almost as close as the Moon

NASA asteroid tracker: The imposing asteroid will safely pass the Earth without hitting