Scientists tracking asteroid with 1 in 7,000 chance of hitting Earth this September

If there is someone you fancy, you might want to tell them sooner rather than later...

Scientists are currently tracking an asteroid that they reckon has a 1 in 7,000 chance of hitting Earth. You might look at that number and think it isn't any big deal, but let us put those numbers in content. The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime is 1 in 80,000. Being killed by a shark is 1 in 3.7 million. The Avengers beating Thanos was just 1 in 14,000,605. All of a sudden, 7,000 doesn't seem like that high of a number. The European Space Agency (ESA) are tracking a 164-foot asteroid called 2006 QV89, which they reckon has a 1 in 7,299 (we rounded down for dramatic effect) chance of hitting the planet on Monday 9 September. Talk about a bad start to the week... The asteroid is currently listed on the ESA's "Risk List", which is a ranking of objects for which a non-zero impact probability has been detected. In other words, big space rocks that have a more-than-zero chance of hitting Earth, and how much about zero those probabilities actually are. How much damage this particular asteroid could potentially cause isn't immediately clear, but - as we know from most space movies, as well as that episode of The Simpsons - there is a strong chance that the majority of it will get destroyed if/when it comes into contact with our atmosphere. Either way, we might not have too much longer to find out... Clip via Movieclips