Asteroid the size of Golden Gate Bridge is approaching Earth

Planet Earth may have harboured and nurtured life for millions of years but there have been catastrophic events in the past. Some of them were (literally) out of this world. An asteroid that struck Earth millions of years ago wiped off the majority of the life on the planet in one stroke. It spelt doom for dominance of dinosaurs and paved way for mammals to dominate the world.

Just because another asteroid of this power hasn't struck Earth since does not give a reason to relax. Such celestial rocks often zoom past Earth and space agencies around the world keep a close eye.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has said that a huge asteroid is coming into Earth's neigbourhood. This asteroid has been named 418135 (2008 AG33).

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This asteroid has been labelled potentially hazardous asteroid. It is 450 metres wide. This makes it comparable to Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It has been classified as Apollo-class asteroid.

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The asteroid is set to make its closest approach on Thursday (April 28).

Luckily for all life on Earth, the asteroid is going to zoom past the Earth. It packs enough punch to cause widespread destruction on Earth if it was to hit Earth head-on.

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It will fly past the Earth at a distance of 3,240,000 kilometres. This may sound a lot but in astronomical terms, it is too small a distance.