A space rock dubbed 2016 WF9 was detected last year on November 27, 2016, by NASA and was said to eventually pass harmlessly by Earth.
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Discovered by NASA's NEOWISE mission (to find near-Earth objects), it's not clear if celestial rock 2016 WF9 is an asteroid or a comet. NASA assured us that the object would safely pass Earth on February 25, maintaining a distance of around 51 million kilometres (32 million miles).
"The trajectory of 2016 WF9 is well understood, and the object is not a threat to Earth for the foreseeable future," NASA said in a statement.
Dr Dyomin Damir Zakharovich, a self-proclaimed Russian astronomer, however, formulated another theory stating that the asteroid would collide with Earth on February 16 and cause a super-tsunami, as per a Mail Online report. Dr Zakharovich claimed the object was, in fact, heading right towards Earth.
"The object they call WF9 left Nibiru in October when Nibiru began spinning counter clockwise around the sun," Dr Zakharovich said, according to Mail Online.
"Since then, NASA has known it will hit Earth. But they are only telling people now," he added.
The celestial body is 0.5 to 1 kilometre (0.3 to 0.6 mile) in diametre, and found reflect little light from its surface.
"WF9 could have cometary origins," Deputy Principal Investigator James 'Gerbs' Bauer at JPL said, in a NASA statement.
"This object illustrates that the boundary between asteroids and comets is a blurry one; perhaps over time this object has lost the majority of volatiles that linger on or just under its surface," he added.
Over a span of 4.9 Earth-years it passed beneath the main asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter; and will pass through Earth's orbit after passing under Mars's orbit.
Dr Zakharovich stated that the asteroid could cause tsunami or devastate cities on colliding with the Earth.
"'We are all in peril," he said.
Contrary to what James 'Gerbs' Bauer stated about the space rock, Dr Zakharovich believes a planet named 'Nibiru', also known as Planet X, will collide with the Earth this year.
According to Dr Zakharovich, the 'planet' Nibiru is going to crash into Earth in October this year. As per his hypothesis, this collision will be an outcome of the gravitational pull triggered by the sun along with a binary star.
"Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an internet hoax. Obviously, it does not exist," NASA stated.
According to conspiracy theorists, hundreds of years ago, orbits of other planets have been destroyed by Nibiru's gravitational impact. According to them the inner solar system can experience a catastrophic disruption at any time.
So far, the only conspiracy theorist whose name has been linked to reports about the coming apocalypse caused by Nibiru is Dyomin Damir Zakharovich, Mail Online reported.
