A small asteroid will zip close by Earth Tuesday (Oct. 12), but poses no chance of hitting the planet or even entering the atmosphere, NASA has announced.

The asteroid 2010 TD54 will fly within about 28,000 miles (45,000 km) of Earth when it makes its closest pass at about 6:51 a.m. EDT (1051 GMT) tomorrow morning, NASA spokesman D.C. Agle told SPACE.com.

The small asteroid is about 20 feet (6 meters) wide and expected to drift silently by Earth instead of creating a dazzling fireball in the atmosphere. The asteroid is too small to survive all the way to the ground, even if it was aimed at Earth, scientists said. [ MSNBC ]