'Mountain-sized' asteroid heading towards earth could be catastrophic

<span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;">Huge rock could hit Earth in next 150 years, says scientist, but Nasa disagrees</span><br /> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #868686; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-8939454 articleContent" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: -3px !important; outline: none;"> <span class="storyTop " style="line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none;"><div style="font-size: 16px !important; line-height: 23px !important; outline: none;">  <span style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">London, Dec 10 - Scientists have warned that a gigantic mountain-sized asteroid that is heading towards earth and could be catastrophic.</span></div> </span><div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> According to leading Russian scientist Vladimir Lipunov, asteroid called 2014 UR116 is on a collision course with Earth and he fears that the earth could be in danger of a devastating event, the Daily star reported.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> Speaking in a recent documentary Lipunov said that people should track it constantly, because if they have a single mistake, there will be a catastrophe and the consequences can be very serious.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> 2014 UR116 is over 400 metres in diameter and a direct hit on our planet would cause an explosion 1,000 times greater than Chelyabinsk meteorite and researchers believe that 2014 UR116 comes close to Earth every three years, but its next trajectory can't be determined.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> Lipunov and his team are concerned that the gravitational pull of Mercury or Venus, could put it on a collision course with Earth, however, many other experts say that 2014 UR116 poses no immediate threat and the public shouldn't be worried.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> NASA have stated on their website that though this approximately 400-meter sized asteroid has a three year orbital period around the sun and returns to the Earth's neighborhood periodically, it does not represent a threat because it's orbital path does not pass sufficiently close to the Earth's orbit.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> Experts at the Space Research Institute in Moscow, have warned that governments across the world should take steps to track the many asteroids that whizz past the Earth each year.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-size: 16px !important; line-height: 23px !important; outline: none;"> <span class="inline-image w460 leftAligned" style="display: inline; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; outline: none; width: 460px;"><img alt="The asteroid exploded on entering the earth's atmosphere leaving behind a large visible from the earth" height="345" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9425285.ece/alternates/w460/Asteroid.jpg" style="border: 1px none rgb(51, 51, 51); outline: none;" title="An asteroid damaged houses when it came to Earth by surprise in 2013" width="460" /><span class="inLineImageCaption" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 14px; margin: 2px 0px 9px; outline: none;">An asteroid damaged houses when it came to Earth by surprise in 2013</span></span></div> <div style="font-size: 16px !important; line-height: 23px !important; outline: none;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9582093.ece/alternates/w620/Artists-impression-of-the-shattered-remains-of-an-asteroidv2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="413" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9582093.ece/alternates/w620/Artists-impression-of-the-shattered-remains-of-an-asteroidv2.jpg" style="display: block; height: 413px; left: 0px; max-height: none; max-width: none; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 20px; width: 620px;" width="620" /></a></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #191a1c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> </div> </div>

'Mountain-sized' asteroid heading towards earth could be catastrophic

Huge rock could hit Earth in next 150 years, says scientist, but Nasa disagrees   London, Dec 10 - Scientists have w...

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