London - A mountain-sized asteroid that passes Earth every three years has been discovered by researchers, who admit it could ‘theoretically’ hit us.
Named 2014 UR116, the rock is about as wide as the Empire State Building is tall, measuring about 1 300ft.
Vladimir Lipunov, of Moscow State University, said it poses no immediate threat, However, he admitted that its trajectory is constantly changed by the gravitational pull of the planets. “We need to permanently track this asteroid, because even a small mistake in calculations could have serious consequences,” he said. “The exact path of the asteroid is impossible to determine, but in theory it can collide with the Earth, Mars and Venus,” MSU added.
The asteroid could trigger an explosion 1 000 times greater than that caused by a bus-sized meteor in Russia last year – but Nasa said it posed no risk to Earth.
Of the million or so asteroids that could cause major damage to our planet, scientists are only aware of about 10 000, or one percent. Last week dozens of experts jointly called for a 100-fold increase in the detection and monitoring of such objects. - Daily Mail