As the asteroid 1998 QE2 approaches the Earth for its closest visit for the next two centuries scientists are able to get a close look at it for the first time. The closer view allowed astronomers to learn that 1998 QE2 is a binary asteroid; in layman's terms it has a moon, according to NASA.

Radar images taken by the 230 foot Deep Space Network antennae in Goldstone, Calif., were able to reveal that the asteroid with a diameter of 1.7 miles has a 2,000 foot wide satellite orbiting it. According to NASA, approximately 16 percent of asteroids the size of 1998 QE2 have a satellite.

The large asteroid will come within a distance of 3.6 million miles away from Earth, which is roughly 15 times the distance to the moon. The asteroid will not be close enough to be seen by the naked eye but as it passes Space.com will have a live stream available to watch here. 

3.6 million miles may seem like an enormous distance but when placed in the scale of the universe it is remarkably close.

"For an asteroid of this size, it's a close shave," Paul Chodas, a scientist with NASA's Near Earth Object office, told Reuters.

Tracking asteroids that will come close to Earth, or possibly collide with it, is a high priority for NASA. The agency is able to track close to 95 percent of the asteroids in our general area. Working together with space agencies from Russia and Europe NASA hopes to be able detect even smaller objects before they hit a populated area so that warnings can be issued to minimize potential injuries, according to Reuters.

NASA is about to start a project that is aimed at finding a way to change the course of a potentially dangerous asteroid on course to collide with Earth.

"NASA recently announced development of a first-ever mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid for human exploration," NASA's website said. "Using game-changing technologies this mission would mark an unprecedented technological achievement that raises the bar of what humans can do in space."