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An asteroid larger than the Empire State Building that was once considered an impact risk of Earth raced past the planet in February and astronomers managed to take a proper look at it.
On February 3, the asteroid came quite close to Earth before leaving at a safe distance of 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers).
An asteroid that flew precariously close to Earth in early February has an extremely unusual shape and rotation for an object of its kind, new NASA research has shown.
![NASA Spots Weird-Shaped Asteroid: 'One Of The Most Elongated We've Seen' [Photo] - Vimarsana News](https://d.ibtimes.com/en/full/2711461/near-earth-objects-asteroid.jpg?w=1600&h=900&q=88&f=53f4f7ad51ffc6ba34d3eaa785c9ad8e)
It's about the same size as the Empire State Building.
The object is 1600 feet long and about 500 feet wide- dimensions comparable to the Empire State Building.