Dangerous Asteroid Could Hit Earth At Any Moment

An astrophysicist has warned that Earth could be hit with a surprise asteroid strike.

Trees knocked over by the Tunguska blast. Image credit: Leonid Kulik/Wikipedia (PD)

Professor Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at the Queen’s University Belfast Astrophysics Research Centre warned that it is a case of when, rather than if, an asteroid collision will happen.

June 30 marks the 109th anniversary of the “Tunguska event” in Siberia – the largest-ever recorded explosion of a space object plunging to Earth.

The blast, which was later attributed to a comet or asteroid fragment, is generally estimated to have been about 10 megatons. No injuries were reported, but some 80 million trees over 830 square miles were leveled.

The astrophysicist warns that a similar strike could destroy a major city, and a large asteroid could prove even more dangerous. (Tasnim News Agency)

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