'Potentially hazardous asteroid' will come within 3.9 million km of earth in December

A "potentially hazardous asteroid" the height of the Eiffel Tower is plummeting towards earth but NASA says it won't cause any threat to humanity.

The space rock which is three times bigger than a football pitch is traveling at speeds of up to 1111kph and will pass earth on December 11 according to NASA.

The asteroid classed as 'Potentially Hazardous Asteroid' (PHA) is 329-metres long and has been given the name 4660 Nereus.

It will travel about 3.9 million kilometres away from earth, which is about 10 times the distance between our planet and the moon.

Experts have warned the asteroid will continue to orbit the earth and is set to return 12 times in the next 175 years.

The space rock orbits the sun every 664 days and is due to pass nearby again in March 2031 and November 2050. The nearest it will travel to earth will be in February 2060 when it travels just 1.2 million km away, experts say.

The largest asteroid to travel near Earth this year is "2001 FO32," which is known as Apophis, the "God of Chaos".

It shot past in March with an estimated diameter of 335 metres.