NASA has recently revealed new data, which has made scientists believe that around 400 asteroid impacts with the earth between 2017 and 2113, which could destroy the planet.
It was mentioned that previously unknown asteroid belt that has been located in deep space could hit the Earth by 2017 and it would destroy life on the planet as we know it, the Daily Express reported. Physicist Professor Brian Cox has recently has claimed that a bus-sized asteroid, named 2014 EC, came within 61,637 kilometres of Earth in March.
Shocked experts have also mentioned that it could rain down on the earth for 100 years, which would change the climate for millennia.
Professor Bill Napier, an astronomy expert at the University of Buckingham, said a strike by either an asteroid or debris from a comet could have devastating consequences, as the atmospheric chemistry would be upset by cutting out sunlight.
The more immediate risk comes from sub-kilometre (smaller) asteroids and there are tens of thousands of these in space which are quite capable of causing damage on a regional scale, he further added.
Asteroid 2012 DA14, discovered by astronomers at the LaSagra Observatory in Spain, currently has less than a one per cent chance of hitting but scientists can`t rule out the possibility that it might smash into the planet.
400 asteroid impacts may destroy `life on earth` between 2017-2113
08 December 2014
Read: 1166
