Report downplays threat of asteroid strike
July 10, 1997
Web posted at: 11:00 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT)
(CNN) -- Could an asteroid hit the Earth and wipe out a sizable chunk of civilization? Conventional scientific wisdom says "yes."
But a report published in the journal Science this week says the threat may be smaller than once thought.
New analysis indicates so-called Earth-crossing asteroids have a much shorter life span than previously believed -- perhaps as short as 10,000,000 years on average.
The asteroids tend to wipe out by crashing into the Sun or Jupiter.
Scientists estimate 2,000 Earth-crossing asteroids exist; 200 have been identified. Astronomers estimate the chances an object 1 km or more in diameter will collide with Earth in the next century are 1 in 10,000.
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