AN asteroid that threatens to blast Earth with fiery debris will skim past our planet this weekend.

The space rock is the size of a blue whale and will zip past at 14,000 miles per hour during its nerve-shredding flyby, according to Nasa.

The US space agency has dubbed the asteroid "2019 YB4" and says it will pass at around 10:30am GMT on Saturday.

It's classed as a "near-Earth object" (NEO) by Nasa, tens of thousands of which are tracked by scientists to ensure they don't collide with our planet.

Just a small change to YB4's trajectory would be enough to send it crashing into us, though at 86ft long it's not large enough to reach Earth's surface.

Instead, the rock would likely explode with the force of 30 nuclear bombs as it hit our atmosphere, reports IBTimes.

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While most of the force would be absorbed by the heavens, debris would likely shower from the sky following the blast.

A similarly-sized asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 reportedly shattered windows and injured 1,500 people.

Fortunately, YB4 is expected to soar past Earth from a safe distance during its upcoming approach.

According to Nasa, the asteroid will pass within 780,000 miles of our planet about three times the distance from Earth to the Moon.

Astronomers are currently tracking nearly 2,000 asteroids, comets and other objects that threaten our pale blue dot, and new ones are found every day.

Earth hasn't seen an asteroid of apocalyptic scale since the space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs 66million years ago.

However, smaller objects still capable of flattening an entire city crash into Earth every so often.

What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?

Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...

One a few hundred metres across that devastated 800 square miles of forest neat Tunguska in Siberia on June 30, 1908.

Luckily, Nasa doesn't believe any of the NEOs it keeps an eye on are on a collision course with our planet.

However, that could change in the coming months or years as the space agency constantly revises objects' predicted trajectories.

"Nasa knows of no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth, so the probability of a major collision is quite small," Nasa says.

"In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years."

Even if they were to hit our planet, the vast majority of asteroids would not wipe out life as we know it.

"Global catastrophes" are only triggered when objects larger than 3,000 feet smash into Earth, according to Nasa.

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In other news, it recently emerged that an asteroid obliterated early human civilisations ina catastrophic collision with Earth 13,000 years ago.

Scientists recently discovered a "Super-Earth" 31 light-years away thathumans could one day colonise.

And, distant planets may host even more life than we have here on Earth,according to one shock study.

Are you worried about an asteroid strike? Let us know in the comments!

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Asteroid that could cause violent sky explosion as powerful as 30 nukes approaching Earth tomorrow, Nasa war - The Sun