Astronomers on the Space Coast are getting ready to see a large asteroid whiz across the sky Monday night.

At its closest approach, the asteroid 2004 BL86, about one-third of a mile in size, will fly 745,000 miles above the Earth Monday.

"It's not in any way going to cause any danger to us on the Earth," said Florida Tech Associate Professor Daniel Batcheldor.

In Central Florida, the optimal viewing time is from 8 p.m. Monday to 1 a.m. Tuesday, but not with the naked eye. Stargazers will need either a telescope or a strong pair of binoculars to get a glimpse of the asteroid.

NASA and astronomers, like those at Florida Tech, will be carefully study the space rock. Another asteroid this size won't pass by for another 12 years.

Information about the asteroid could help NASA engineers as they figure out how to capture an asteroid and put in our moon's orbit.

In the next decade, NASA is planning to send a crewed Orion mission to land on the orbiting asteroid to collect samples.

Space experts said the asteroid redirect mission as it’s called would be a cheaper endeavor than other options being considered.

"To me, the asteroid mission make sense because I don't think Congress is ever going to give us the money necessary to go to the moon or Mars any time in the distant future," said Dale Ketcham, from Space Florida.

By landing on an asteroid, NASA also hopes we can learn how to avert a future collision. However, scientists are more worried about the space rocks we cannot detect.

"We are fairly sure there are objects, a lot of these objects that are smaller than that, even smaller asteroids, if they were to pose an impact threat to Earth would still cause catastrophic event," Batcheldor said.

Back to this asteroid that will fly relatively close to Earth on Monday.

Because of its size, NASA said the asteroid should be visible with small telescopes or strong binoculars.

Meanwhile, during the first ever Astronomy Day at Florida Tech, the public was invited to check out the university's telescopes and hear about research they are conducting.

Saturday evening, they got a better look at Comet Lovejoy, which is making its brightest appearance in the nighttime sky this month. We will not see it again like this for another 8,000 years.