Large Asteroid Zips By Earth (Video)

Earth "just missed" colliding with a large asteroid that whizzed by only 1.1 million miles from us Wednesday. That's closer than it may sound. And the asteroid, known by the unlovely moniker 2014 JO25, could still be visible to amateur astronomers Wednesday and even Thursday nights.

"Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid of this size," NASA said in a press release ahead of the event. It believes the asteroid is about 2,000 feet (or 650 meters) long. Budding astronomers may still be able to get a glimpse of the cosmic object in the night sky as it passes out of Earth's trajectory.

"The asteroid will approach Earth from the direction of the sun and will become visible in the night sky after April 19," NASA said. "It is predicted to brighten to about magnitude 11, when it could be visible in small optical telescopes for one or two nights before it fades as the distance from Earth rapidly increases."

For the less ambitious among us, the space agency released radar images of the asteroid on its approach. The images were generated by NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert when it was 1.9 million miles away:

Asteroids pass by Earth all the time, of course, and many come much closer than 2014 JO25 will. But these much more common objects are much smaller. The last time an object of comparable size came in at such a close distance with the planet was 2004, and the next time an asteroid in this category is projected to pass so close by will be in 2027.

Even objects much smaller than 2014 JO25 can make a huge impact if they hit a populated area. In 2013, a 59-foot meteor exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia, panicking the local residents, damaging thousands of buildings and injuring as many as 1,500 people.

But 2014 JO25 is much, much bigger. It has the potential to wipe out entire cities with a direct strike, causing a crater ten miles wide. It would unleash an unfathomable amount of thermal energy in a massive fireball; those within the vicinity of the crash site who weren't killed could suffer massive burns. Next to this impact a nuclear bomb is negligible.

Beyond the immediate area of impact, seismic effects could be felt many more miles away.

Watch a simulation of the asteroid's trajectory as it zooms by:

Photo credit: NASA/JHUAPL