http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/07/24/asteroid.encounter.ap/index.html<br /><br />Asteroid may hit Earth but don't panic yet<br />July 24, 2002<br /><br />LONDON (AP) -- Astronomers are carefully monitoring a newly discovered<br />1.2-mile-wide (2 km) asteroid to see whether it is on a collision course<br />with Earth.<br /><br />Initial calculations indicate there is a chance the asteroid - known as 2002<br />NT7 - will hit the Earth on February 1, 2019. But scientists said Wednesday<br />that the calculations are preliminary and the risk to the planet is low.<br /><br />"The threat is very minimal," Donald Yeomans, of NASA's Jet Propulsion<br />Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.<br />"An object of this size would be expected to hit the Earth every few million<br />years, and as we get additional data I think this threat will go away."<br /><br />The object was detected on July 9 by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid<br />Research Project in New Mexico. It orbits the sun every 837 days, and NASA<br />scientists predict its path could intersect with the Earth's orbit. But they<br />say more observations over the coming months will help them plot its course<br />more accurately.<br /><br />Full story here:<br /><br />http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/07/24/asteroid.encounter.ap/index.html