Experts fear massive asteroid will hit Earth in next 3 years

A huge asteroid, with an estimated size of 10 to 40m, is expected to come in contact with Earth, closer than it did the last time.

span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Asteroid 2012 TC4 was approximated at about the size of the Statue of Liberty from the torch tip to foot, prompting some on alert. The said asteroid missed Earth in 2012, and no other information was documented, aside from its brightness used in size estimation. Experts are still unsure on where it will collide specifically.

"We could see an airburst, maybe broken windows, depending on where it hits," said Dr. Judit Györgyey-Ries, astronomer at the McDonald Observatory, University of Texas.

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The huge asteroid is feared to be twice the size of the meteor that exploded in February 2013 in Russian city, Chelyabinsk, according to the report of Express UK. It left 1,500 people injured and more than 7,000 buildings damaged.

However, the head of the near-earth object segment at the European Space Agency, Detlef Koschny, explained there is only one chance over a million that Asteroid 2012 TC4 will hit the Earth.

Koschny also said that its reflectivity is still unknown, but the size was estimated from its brightness, saying it could be as small in 10m or as large as 40m. "A 40m iron object would go through the atmosphere and make a crater; a 10m rocky object would hardly be noticed," he added.

NASA Asteroid Watch stated there is no chance that it will hit the Earth. Asteroid 2012 TC4 was first discovered by a Hawaiian observatory on October 4, 2012. A week later, it almost hit us, passing at about 94,800 km away.

A prediction of a larger asteroid to come near the planet and leave devastation on October 2017 is also feared.

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