Asteroid heads towards Earth with one in 625 chance of hitting planet

NASA has said that options include deflecting the asteroid by attaching a probe to it and using the extra gravity this would create to steer it away from Earth over the course of millions of light years.

Nuclear weapons could also be used to break up the asteroid, although this would probably create a potentially deadly shower of rocks.

According to sky scans carried out by NASA, there are around 19,000 “mid-sized” asteroids of between 330 and 3,300 feet wide within 120 million miles of Earth. All have the potential to destroy an area the size of a city were they to strike.

The Aphophis asteroid, which is the size of two and a half football pitches, is on course to pass close to the Earth in 2036, coming within 18,300 miles of this planet. Scientists expect that it will be visible from most of Europe, Africa and Asia.

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