NASA: Asteroid could destroy Earth in 22nd century

An animated image of Bennu by NASA

Credit: NASA

Credit: NASA

An animated image of Bennu by NASA

An asteroid called Bennu has a chance of colliding with Earth in the next century, according to NASA.

Bennu was first discovered in 1999 and comes into Earth's orbit every six years. The asteroid could fly between the Earth and the moon, which would end life on our home planet, our news partners at WPTV reports.

In September NASA will send a probe into space to study Bennu and its unique makeup. But researchers will also be studying a newly discovered force, called the Yarkovsky effect, that allows asteroids to move very fast around the solar system.

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The probe should arrive at the asteroid by 2018, which will help NASA better predict how asteroids move and why their directions change.

The good news is that NASA isn't too worried about Bennu hitting Earth, because there is only a 1 in 2,500 chance of this happening.  But NASA's research could be the answer to saving human life.

Read more at wptv.com