The rock will be closest to Earth at 9:30pm Irish time, although it will continue to be viewable over the course of the weekend. Unfortunately, the NEA - Near Earth Asteroid - will not be visible through the naked eye or even your binoculars, but you should be able to catch a glimpse of it if you have access to even a relatively decent telescope. For anyone wondering where to aim their 'scopes, Universe Today provide a general guide to its locations in the sky over the coming days.

If you don’t have access to the appropriate astronomy gear, SLOOH SpaceCamera will be providing a live stream of the NEA's pass. NASA will also be providing live updates, commentary and video coverage - check out their Asteroid Watch hub page.

Those interested in monitoring Twitter for comments and photos - or indeed sharing their own observations - should keep an eye on #1998qe2, #asteroid and #qe2. Expect some great images over the coming days as the world's best space monitoring tech is pointed towards the NEA.

QE2 is estimated to be around 2.7 kilometres in diameter and tonight will pass within 6.2 million kilometres of Earth, or around 15 times the distance to the moon. That might sound far, but it’s a big event for astronomers and scientists who will be trying to capture high-quality footage and photography of it as it passes ‘close’ to Earth. It will be the asteroid's closest encounter with Earth until 2221, so enthusiastic spotters should probably have a gander while they have the chance.