Asteroid set to zoom past Earth in September has a 1-in-7000 chance of hitting us

The European Space Agency (ESA) is tracking an asteroid that’s set to zoom past planet Earth in September. And the smart space folk say there’s only around a 1-in-7000 chance that the massive chunk of rock will collide with us. Asteroid 2006 QV89 measures 40 meters in diameter and it’ll almost certainly fly harmlessly past at a distance of 4.2 million miles away on September 9. But it’s close enough to us that the ESA has included it on the ominously-named ‘Risk List’.

The space agency describes the list as ‘a catalogue of all objects for which a non-zero impact probability has been detected.’ Which is jargon for: there’s a miniscule chance this could wipe out all life on our planet. We’re exaggerating. In fact, at 40 meters wide, it’s unlikely an impact would wipe out the population. But it would be more powerful than the largest meteor strike yet recorded.


Read more: https://metro.co.uk/