Oh dear, Bruce Willis and his team of maveric heroes to the rescue??!!
Scientists warn of asteroid collision
PA, 02 September 2003
Scientists today warned that an asteroid was on a possible collision course with Earth.
The asteroid, known as 2003 QQ47, is around two-thirds of a mile wide and could hit the earth on 21 March, 2014. It has been classified by astronomers as "an event meriting careful monitoring".
In the unlikely event of it hitting earth, the rock would have the force of 350,000 megatonnes - around eight million times more powerful than the bomb dropped at Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War.
The probability of the asteroid hitting earth however, is just 1 in 909,000 and the risk of impact is likely to decrease further as experts collect more information.
Dr Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen's University, Belfast, one of the expert team advising the UK Near Earth Objects Information Centre, based in Leicester, said there was no cause for concern about the asteroid.
"There is some uncertainty about where it is going", he said. "In all probability, within the next month we will know its future orbit with an accuracy which will mean we will be able to rule out any impact.
"I would say there is no cause for concern at all."
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