A huge asteroid spinning at an "impossible"
rate is hurtling toward Earth, on track to wipe out human life - but not
until 16 March, 2880.
Asteroid 1950
DA has a one-in-300 chance of hitting the globe on the appointed day.
Although that may sound like slim odds, it is the most likely asteroid
to collide with our planet.
Researchers
at the University of Tennessee are not taking any chances, studying the
asteroid for indications of how best to throw it off its course.
According
to their research, published in the science journal Nature, the
asteroid has a diameter of one kilometre and is travelling at nine miles
a second relative to the Earth.
It is
also rotating so fast - once every 2 hours and six minutes - that it
"defies gravity". Rotation at that speed should cause the space rock to
fly apart, but cohesive forces called van der Waals are holding it
together. These forces have never before been detected on an asteroid.This information is credited to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11037247/Huge-asteroid-set-to-wipe-out-life-on-Earth-in-2880.html
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