Pasadena, Calif. – You can relax. The end of the world is not coming for at least another 100 years. At least it won’t happen because of a giant rock hurdling through space.
NASA tracks near-Earth objects (NEO) to calculate the risk of a catastrophic impact with an asteroid. Most asteroids are made of materials leftover from the creation of our solar system. [TRENDING: Teens rescued from slingshot ride | Woman found naked in storm drain says she was there for 3 weeks | Teacher fired for using medical marijuana] Asteroid 99942 Apophis is one such object.
Born in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, Apophis is a 1,000-foot-wide chunk of rock, nickel and iron that wobbles around the Sun in just under an Earth year.