Full list of asteroids that could crash into Earth revealed – including one with a 1 in 16 chance and 6,500-foot ‘doomsday meteor’
THE RISK of apocalyptic asteroids hitting Earth may be slim but it's definitely not impossible.
This is why the European Space Agency (ESA) has made a list of all the potentially dangerous space rocks, which reveals all the asteroids and meteors that have a chance of crashing into our planet, the likelihood of this happening and the exact date and time when it could.
The list includes already infamous asteroids like Bennu, which is bigger than the Empire State Building and could have an apocalyptic impact on the planet.
There's no need to panic though as Bennu isn't predicted to crash into Earth until sometime around the year 2196 and it only has about a one in 10,638 chance of doing so.
An asteroid called 2010RF12 could potentially hit Earth much sooner in the year 2095 and has the highest chance of all the asteroids on the table, with a one in 16 prediciton.
This asteroid also happens to be the joint smallest though so would not have an apocalyptic impact but could still be devastating depending on where it landing.
Asteroids that come very close to Earth are fairly common and Nasa has previously revealed that a car sized asteroids hit's the Earth's atmosphere at least once a year but burns up before reaching the ground.
A lot of asteroids are hard to spot because they can be in blind spots created by the Sun.
An asteroid called 2006 QV89 could actually crash into Earth in September this year and could flatten an area bigger than London.
The asteroid is currently travelling at 27,400 miles per hour but scientists think it is has a one in 7,299 chance of hitting Earth.
The space rock that could have the most devastating impact is 29075 1950DA, which has a whopping diameter of 2000 metres and a one in 7042 chance of causing an apocalypse.
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it'll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn't vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth's atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)
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Do you think asteroids are scary? Let us know in the comments...
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