Astroid could hit earth in 2036!!!!

**bronumba1** · 01-09-2006

Astronomers are urging governments to face up to the threat of an asteroid which could hit Earth in 2036.

Scientists are monitoring the progress of Apophis, a 390-metre wide asteroid, discovered last year, reports the Guardian.

Nasa estimates that an impact from Apophis would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima.

Thousands of square kilometres would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.

And, scientists insist, there is actually very little time left to decide. It could take decades to design, test and build the required technology to deflect the asteroid.

Monica Grady, an expert in meteorites at the Open University, said: "It's a question of when, not if, a near Earth object collides with Earth.

"Many of the smaller objects break up when they reach the Earth's atmosphere and have no impact.

"However, a NEO larger than 1km wide will collide with Earth every few hundred thousand years and a NEO larger than 6km, which could cause mass extinction, will collide with Earth every hundred million years. We are overdue for a big one."

Apophis had been intermittently tracked since its discovery in June last year but, in December, it started causing serious concern when astronomers calculated the odds of it hitting the Earth in 2029 were alarming.

The threat of a collision in 2029 was eventually ruled out at the end of last year - but there is still a chance it could hit Earth when it passes again in 2036.