Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will fly by our planet at a safe distance of 1.8 astronomical units (roughly 167 million miles or 270 million kilometers) at 1 a.m. ET on Friday, December 19, according to calculations by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That’s about twice the average difference between Earth and the Sun.

With 3I/ATLAS just days away from making its closest approach to Earth, agencies around the globe are conducting the largest and most extensive planetary defense drill — with the goal of protecting ourselves against future threats from beyond.