60ft asteroid set for close encounter with Earth

A rogue asteroid the size of a house is being carefully tracked by Nasa as it flies past Earth this weekend.

The asteroid, nicknamed Pitbull, is expected to skim past Earth at only 25,000 miles (40,234 km) away - a distance 10 times closer to the planet than the moon.

The 60ft-wide (20m-wide) space rock was discovered only days ago and is officially known as 2014 RC.

Nasa said Pitbull will fly closest to New Zealand at around 8:20pm UK time on Sunday but will not be visible to the naked eye.

"Amateur astronomers with small telescopes might be able to catch a glimpse as it zips by," a Nasa spokesperson said though.

-msn