An asteroid first observed on January 16, 2009 is set to pass within about 0.9 lunar distances (less than 384,000 km) of earth next Thursday.

The asteroid, Asteroid 2009 BD, is what astronomers believe to be a “co-orbital asteroid,” or one that follows the orbit of a major planet (in this case, the Earth, duh), not receding more than 0.1 AU away.

Scientists and astronomers assert that this little parasite the Earth has taken on will not be a threat to life, as if it were in fact on course to impact the planet rather than narrowly pass by, it would not directly impact but rather kind of skid through the atmosphere and cause a huge atmospheric explosion. This explosion would be damaging (or lethal) within a 10-20 km radius of the initial explosion, but would not cause us all to fall into a dinosaur-esque mass extinction.

So don’t worry, be happy, and have Bruce Willis on speed dial just in case things get messy.