Terrified NASA scientists admit huge asteroid could hit Earth and cause armageddon

29.02.2016 15:30

Experts warn the giant 100-foot asteroid is heading towards us but nobody is certain how close it will come to a direct hit.

The asteroid is due to pass Earth next week but NASA says there is a "chance" it could hurtle into our planet on September 28, 2017.

The same asteroid bypassed Earth two years ago at the comfortable distance of about 1.3 million miles but could pass much closer on its next visit.

NASA has said it could be anywhere between 9 million miles and 11,000 miles away but additional observations have allowed scientists to refine their predictions.

Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Centre for Near Earth Orbit Studies, said: "The possibilities of collision on any of the three future flyby dates are far too small to be of any real concern.

"I fully expect any future observations to reduce the probability even more."

If it ever hit our planet, the asteroid would probably explode in the atmosphere and unleash more energy than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

Don't panic just yet though because you're 18 times more likely to win the lottery than the asteroid hitting our planet.

Although admitting there is a "chance" of a hit in September, NASA conceded the odds of this are "no more than 1 in 250 million".

Chodas added: "This asteroid's orbit is quite uncertain and it will be hard to predict where to look for it.

"There is a chance that the asteroid will be picked up by our asteroid search telescopes when it safely flies past us next month, providing us with data to more precisely define its orbit around the sun."

(dailystar.co.uk)

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