Earth 'probably safe' from killer asteroid for next 1,000 years

Collisions from smaller asteroids still a risk, but researchers say planet is still at least a millennium away from being struck by large rocky body

A computer-generated simulation of an asteroid striking Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula about 150 million years ago. AFP

Fears that Earth could be wiped out by an asteroid can probably be put to rest after a study concluded that the planet is not likely to be harmed by a killer asteroid for the next millennium.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado and Nasa, compiled data from 1,000 near-Earth objects larger than 1km and the impact they might have on the planet in the next millennium.

Researchers said the asteroid with the highest risk of colliding with Earth is named 1994 PC1, which is roughly 1km wide and has a 0.00151 per cent chance of passing within the Moon's orbit in the next 1,000 years.

The study, to be published in The Astronomical Journal, comes nearly 30 years after the US Congress asked Nasa to detect and record 90 per cent of near-Earth objects that were 1km or larger.

Researchers say the catalogue is nearly 95 per cent complete.

While Earth is probably safe from killer asteroids, smaller objects still pose a threat to the planet.

Oscar Fuentes-Munoz, who led the study, told the MIT Technology Review that a Nasa catalogue collecting information on asteroids large enough to destroy a city is nearly 40 per cent complete.

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