‘Demon’ asteroid playing chicken with Earth orbit

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A giant asteroid dubbed Apophis is headed on a trajectory that could cause it to crash into Earth and prove catastrophic to all life, says a scientist at the University of California Berkeley.

“It would create a crater over two miles wide,” explained Alex Filippenko. “If Apophis were to hit a city, goodbye to that city and the surrounding region for 100 miles.”

As recently as 2013, residents in the remote Russian city of Chelyabinsk were shocked to witness the arrival of an enormous asteroid burning through the sky in 2013. The previously undetected object slammed into Earth’s atmosphere, illuminating the skies brighter than the sun and causing panic among locals.

The asteroid is named after an ancient Egyptian demon.

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