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An asteroid the size of a whale will have a 'very close' shave with Earth on Sunday, Nasa has reported

At the time of closest approach, asteroid 2014 RC will be one-tenth the distance from the centre of Earth to the moon, or about 25,000 miles (40,000km).

The news comes just days after Brian Cox told MailOnline that the world is ill-equipped to deal with asteroid threats, which could someday wipe out humanity.

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An asteroid the size of a whale will have a 'very close' shave with Earth on Sunday, Nasa has reported. This image shows the orbit of asteroid 2014 RC around the sun. The asteroid is about 60ft (20 metres) in size

From its reflected brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about 60ft (20 metres) in size. At its closest point to Earth will be above New Zealand on 7 September at about 20.18 BST.

Amateur astronomers with small telescopes might glimpse the fast-moving appearance of this near-Earth asteroid, Nasa says.

Astronomers say the asteroid will pass below Earth and the ring of communications and weather satellites orbiting about 22,000 miles (36,000km) above our planet's surface.

It was initially discovered on the night of August 31 by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, and independently detected the next night by the Pan-Starrs 1 telescope in Hawaii.

This graphic depicts the passage of asteroid 2014 RC past Earth on September 7. At time of closest approach, it will be one-tenth the distance from Earth to the moon. Times indicated on the graphic are Universal Time

The asteroid was initially discovered on the night of August 31 by the Catalina Sky Survey (pictured) near Tucson, Arizona, and independently detected the next night by the Pan-Starrs 1 telescope in Hawaii

'While this celestial object does not appear to pose any threat to Earth or satellites, its close approach creates a unique opportunity for researchers to observe and learn more about asteroids,' it added.

Asteroid 2014 RC will not hit Earth, but its orbit will bring it back to our planet's neighbourhood in the future.

The asteroid's future motion will be closely monitored, but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified, according to Nasa.

However, earlier week, Brian Cox warned MailOnline that 'there is an asteroid with our name on it and it will hit us.'

Animation reveals NASA's proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission

No one really knows when a serious impact could happen. 'It could be tomorrow,' Professor Cox tells MailOnline. 'The thing that bothers me about that is we do know how to do something about it'

And no one really knows when a serious impact could happen.

'It could be tomorrow,' Professor Cox told MailOnline. 'The thing that bothers me about that is we do know how to do something about it.'

He referred to the bus-sized asteroid, named 2014 EC, came within 38,300 (61,637km) miles of Earth in March - around a sixth of the distance between the moon and our planet.

And it wasn't the only one threatening Earth. Nasa is currently tracking 1,400 'potentially hazardous asteroids' and predicting their future approaches and impact probabilities.

The threat is so serious that former astronaut Ed Lu has described it as 'cosmic roulette' and said that only 'blind luck' has so far saved humanity from a serious impact.