WASHINGTON, Aug 17: A newly-discovered asteroid will pass close to earth at 0300 GMT (9am PST) on Sunday, giving astronomers and skywatchers a rare study opportunity, but won’t pose any danger, the US space agency NASA said on Friday.

Asteroid 2002 NY40 will be visible with binoculars or small telescopes as it passes within 455,000 kilometres of Earth, said Don Yeomans, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“Flybys like this happen every 50 years or so,” he said.

The asteroid, 800 metres in diameter, will appear in the constellation Lyra and will be visible primarily in the northern hemisphere as a trail of light.

“Asteroids are hard to see because they’re mostly black like charcoal. The most common ones - carbon-rich C-type asteroids - reflect only three-percent to five-percent of the light that hits them. Metallic asteroids, which are somewhat rare, reflect more - 10-percent to 15-percent,” Yeomans said.

“We don’t know yet what this asteroid is made of but we’ll have a much better idea by the end of August.”

Among those watching will be astronomers at the giant radiotelescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, who hope to obtain a rare three-dimensional look at an asteroid.

“Radar data will also improve our knowledge of the asteroid’s orbit,” JPL astronomer Jon Giorgini said. —AFP