A comet which lights up the night sky each year with hundreds of fireballs could be hiding doomsday asteroids.

That is the finding of a team of researchers who have been investigating the annual Taurids meteor shower.

And they are warning that the cosmic fragments of ice and rock could be large enough to wipe out whole continents.

One of these fragments could hit Earth in 2022, 2025, 2032 or 2039, researchers predict.

Researchers from the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Science have discovered a new debris field in an annual meteor shower that could be hiding asteroids which could wipe out whole continents (stock image)

DOOMSDAY DEBRIS Each year, from the end of October, the skies play host to the meteor shower, dubbed 'nature's fireworks'. The Taurids display is created by debris left behind by Encke's comet, named after the astronomer who discovered it's annual trajectory in 1819. Researchers from the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Science have been keeping track of these fragments. They have found two asteroids, called 2015 TX24 and 2005 UR, which are part of a previously undiscovered branch of the Taurids' debris. The space rocks measure 650 feet to 900 feet (200 to 300 meters) across and have been registered on the International Astronomical Union’s list of "potentially hazardous" asteroids. But the Czech team is concerned that the hidden debris field may contain even larger objects. Advertisement

Each year, from the end of October, the skies play host to the meteor shower, dubbed 'nature's fireworks'.

The Taurids display is created by debris left behind by Encke's comet, named after the astronomer who discovered it's annual trajectory in 1819.

Researchers from the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Science have been keeping track of these fragments.

They have found two asteroids, called 2015 TX24 and 2005 UR, which are part of a previously undiscovered branch of the Taurids' debris.

The Earth only passes through this potentially dangerous branch once every few years, causing greater numbers of shooting stars.

Future encounters are predicted for 2022, 2025, 2032 and 2039.

The space rocks measure 650 feet to 900 feet (200 to 300 meters) across and have been registered on the International Astronomical Union’s list of "potentially hazardous" asteroids.

But the Czech team is concerned that the hidden debris field may contain even larger objects.

Writing in a paper published on Arxiv, the study's authors said: 'Since asteroids of sizes of tens to hundreds meters pose a treat to the ground even if they are intrinsically weak, impact hazard increases significantly when the Earth encounters the Taurid new branch every few years.

'Further studies leading to better description of this real source of potentially hazardous objects, which can be large enough to cause significant regional or even continental damage on the Earth, are therefore extremely important.'

The biggest ever documented explosion, a blast in Russia the size of 185 Hiroshima bombs that was felt as far away as Britain and the US, has been blamed on the Taurids meteors.

Known as the Tunguska event, the blast happened after a large fireball was seen crossing the Siberian sky on June 20, 1908.

Each year, from the end of October, the skies play host to the meteor shower, dubbed 'nature's fireworks'. It is created by Earth passing through debris left behind by Encke's comet (stock image)

A large fireball was seen crossing the Siberian sky on June 20, 1908 before an eruption six miles above ground flattened 80 million trees and left charred reindeer carcasses. Some experts believe this was a Taurids object (stock image)

There were reports at the time that the blast was felt as far away as Britain while the explosion lit up the sky in the US

An eruption six miles above ground flattened 80 million trees and left charred reindeer carcasses.

The blast is thought to have been produced by a Taurids comet or asteroid hurtling through Earth's atmosphere at over 33,500 miles per hour.

Whatever caused the event likely entered the atmosphere at 9 to 19 miles per second, and would have been extremely fragile, destroying itself roughly six miles above Earth.

If a Taurids object large enough to make it through the atmosphere in one piece struck the ground, the damage would be catastrophic.