Asteroid as wide as football field could hit earth in September

The earth is at risk of being hit by an asteroid as wide as a football field in September this year.

The rock has a one in 7,000 chance of hitting the planet on September 9 at 7.03am, according to the European Space Agency’s list of the most concerning space objects.

Known as asteroid 2006QV89, it has a diameter of 40m and is currently 4.2 million miles away from us, according to the ESA.

Although the likelihood of impact is slim at one in 7,299, according to Impact Probability data, the rock has seen an huge increase since 2013, as well as a sudden sharp rise during April this year.

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The asteroid was discovered in August 2006 by the Catalina Sky Survey.

An earth impact from a space object is extremely rare however asteroids have hit the planet previously and caused significant damage.

In 1908, around 770 square miles of forest were flatted near the Pokamennaya Tunguska River in Russia from a meteorite.

In February, Russian again saw an asteroid crash in Chelyabinsk, causing damage to more than 7,200 buildings while 1,500 people suffered from non-fatal injuries.

NASA and other international groups including the ESA have been training for what to do if an asteroid ever does hit the planet, regularly holding near-Earth object impact exercises.

NASA also released a 20-page plan in June last year on preparation strategies for near-Earth objects.

In December, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex mission arrived at the asteroid Bennu, where it will spend two years studying and gathering information about asteroids that could impact the planet as well as how planets are formed and life began.