Planet Earth is about to receive the biggest sample yet from an asteroid.

The largest asteroid known to be passing near Earth this year will also be one of the fastest rocks to cruise past our planet, and it’s all happening March 21. If you’re thinking that’s impressive, the rock will be cruising through space at about 76,980 mph -- or 21 miles per second, relative to Earth. So, at what time and where will you be able to see Asteroid 2001 FO32? For those looking from the south, the asteroid will be low in the sky, above the southern horizon. The next time this asteroid will encounter our planet will be in 31 years.

In a recent episode of the podcast “Space Curious,” planetary scientists helped us understand why this is. They also explained how we know where asteroids are, and why we’re not all going to get squashed by one anytime soon. “The main reason we go to Bennu is because it is the most potentially hazardous asteroid,” Campins said. “It’s a primitive asteroid,” Campins said. Campins said when someone reads about an asteroid headed for Earth, it’s a good idea to do some fact checking.

An asteroid the size of a sports stadium is going to pass by Earth on Saturday, according to NASA. Asteroid path projection (NASA)The asteroid, labeled 163348 (2002 NN4), was first observed in July 2002, according to NASAs JPL. This isnt the only asteroid projected to pass by Earth this week. A NASA Asteroid Watch page projects a 100-foot asteroid to pass by Thursday, a 52-foot asteroid to pass by Friday and three, including the stadium-sized rock, will pass by Saturday. To put that into perspective, we know the close approach distance to an accuracy of 1 part in about 27,000.