Reports that an asteroid as big as the Statue of Liberty is on a collision course with Earth has led to fears of an approaching doomsday.
An astronomer has claimed that on 12 October 2017, the asteroid 2012 TC4 is slated to pass dangerously close to the Earth.
Dr Judit Györgyey-Ries, astronomer at the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory, has said the giant rock could create a huge impact if it reaches Earth in 2017, leading many on social media to dub it as a doomsday asteroid.
She also said that there is more observations needed to mitigate the uncertainties.
Observers also claim that there is 72% chance that asteroid may have a water impact. "A water impact is not necessarily better than a land impact. In fact the results may be much worse," an asteroid enthusiast noted on Astrowatch.net.
Mirror noted that the Asteroid 2012 TC4, which is around 40m wide, could wreck more havoc than the 50m-wide asteroid, which exploded over Russia in February 2013, leaving more than 1,000 people hospitalised.
As of latest data, there are 1,572 potentially hazardous asteroids (PHA) detected. However, most of them exploded before passing through the Earth's atmosphere.
