14 DAY TRIAL // A new asteroid has reached the top of the Earth-threat list and was assigned the yellow code - a rare event. However, there is no reason to panic as the chances of an actual hit are still very small.
The asteroid, named 2004 VD17, was rated 2 on the Torino scale, which means it deserves the attention of astronomers. Based on observations so far, the asteroid has a 1 in 1600 chance of striking the Earth in 2102 and a 1 in 500,000 chance of hitting us two years later. But, according to Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena "we're more likely to be hit between now and then by an object that we don't know about".
The size of 2004 VD17 is estimated to be around 580 meters in diameter. If such an asteroid would strike on land it would produce an impact crater of about 10 kilometers wide and an earthquake of magnitude 7.4.
Insofar the more threatening asteroid was Apophis (2004 MN4), which has reached the level 4 in December 2004. Level 4 on the Torino scale is still in the yellow alert zone and it means there is a 1% chance of strike. Further observations had lowered this asteroid to level 1 (in the green zone).
Astronomers say the same thing will probably happen to the current asteroid superstar.
Picture: Asteroid 951 Gaspra photographed by the Galileo spacecraft on 29 October 1991 (NASA)