It may leave a crater 20 times larger than the Arizona meteor crater.
Avi Blizovsky
A block of rock one kilometer wide could hit the Earth in 2880. That's what American astronomers are now saying. The asteroid named 1950 DA has a 1 in 300 chance of colliding with Earth according to calculations. The chances will become clear when more accurate data is received on the trajectory of the asteroid around the solar system. According to the scientists, this is something that humans should be concerned about.
If it does turn out to be a real danger, humanity will have several decades to prepare to give this rock a push that will push it away from Earth. The asteroid, 1950 DA was first discovered on February 23, 1950 by astronomers at the Lick Observatory in California but after 17 days it was lost from sight. It was rediscovered on December 31, 2000 by the Lowell Observatory's Automated Near Earth Object Search (LONEOS) system. Subsequent radar images from the Arecibo and Goldstone radio observatories during the asteroid's approach to Earth, about 20 times closer to the Moon, allowed astronomers to more accurately calculate the rock's trajectory. The calculations show that the asteroid will pass very close to Earth on March 16, 2880. How close? Still need to check.
