An asteroid the size of a multi-storey house will pass by the Earth on October 12 at a distance much smaller than the distance from the Moon to the Earth, but it will not pose a threat to the planet, astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.

This space rock will pass within 44,000 kilometers of our planet - that is one-eighth the Earth-Moon distance, according to the ESA.

This asteroid during passage can not damage satellites, located in the geostationary orbit with a height of 36,000 kilometers, scientists believe.

This asteroid, named 2012 TC4, first passed by our planet in October 2012. - at approximately twice the distance - before disappearing from sight.

The size of this asteroid is estimated at 15-30 meters, and it moved at a speed of about 14 kilometers per second when it was seen by astronomers.

Scientists expect that the asteroid will return to Earth and make another rapprochement with it this year, but they can not yet name the date of this second rapprochement.

At present, the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile helped track this asteroid, some 56 million kilometers away from Earth, and determine its trajectory. "It's pretty damn close," said Rolf Densing, head of the European Space Operations Center in. Darmstadt, Germany.

Source: Astronews.