Its orbital period around the sun is very close to our own, at 368 days, and it has made a close approach every year.
This year’s is the closest, say scientists - and the good news is that this is the closest it will get to Earth for at least three decades.
Dr Gerhard Drolshagen, a near-Earth object observer from the European Space Agency’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) office, said: ‘In future times the possibility of a collision cannot be completely excluded. It is highly unlikely, but the chance is greater than zero.’
The asteroid’s next very close shave with Earth will be in 2046, when it will squeak by us at a distance of 37,000 miles.
And there’s another close encounter in 97 years’ time, on February 16 2110, when the chance that it will hit the Earth is 1 in 7,692,308,000.
Read more: asteroid set to miss earth