Brace yourselves for a close encounter with massive asteroid moving towards Earth at eye watering speeds

USA: Conspiracy theorists were left bemused when the giant asteroid predicted by the Blood Moon Prophecy didn't slam into the planet bringing death and destruction as predicted last week.

But now NASA has taken the unusual step of confirming a giant asteroid is hurtling through space - close to earth - and at eye watering speeds.

While they've not been able to confirm its exact size it is believed the colossal lump of fast moving space rock - also known as 86666 (2000 FL10) - could be anything up to 1.6 miles wide.

And as it hurtles close to earth at 40,000 miles per hour - it is expected to pass the moon's orbit of the earth this weekend.

According to NASA , the asteroid was first spotted by 5925 days ago or 16 years ago and is classified as a Near-Earth asteroid whose orbit crosses the Earth's orbit similar to that of 1862 Apollo.

The 1862 Apollo was classified as a potentially hazardous object (PHO) that has the potential to make close approaches to the Earth and is of a size large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact.

An object is considered a potentially hazardous if it comes within 4,600,000 miles.

But while 86666 (2000 FL10) is certainly a large object that will come close to earth it is not thought that it will come close enough to cause any damage.

NASA uses its highly automated collision monitoring system Sentry to continually scan the most current asteroid catalog for possibilities of future impact with Earth over the next 100 years.

And for those worried about the future then you can rest easy for another 23 years.

The next recently observed major object 2015 RN35 is currently projected to come relatively close earth anytime from 2038 to 2114.

None of the thousands of objects on NASA's risk monitoring system are regarded as likely to impact earth greatly.

The maximum detected hazard rating using the Torino Impact Hazard Scale is 10.

A Torino Scale rating of 1 indicates an event that "merits careful monitoring" but currently all threats have been marked at zero.

The ten point scale is defined only for potential impacts less than 100 years in the future.