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MOSCOW. (Yury Zaitsev for RIA Novosti) -...
km in November 1996, returned in September 2004 and flew by just 1.5 million km from the Earth"s surface. In March 1989, a 300m asteroid crossed the terrestrial orbit and missed the Earth by just six hours. Astronomers spotted the rock only when it was receding into space.An asteroid measuring over 1,000 m in diameter is potentially capable of destroying human civilization. Chances of a major asteroid impact in the 21st century are a mere 0.0002%, while there is a 2% probability of the Earth colliding with a 100m asteroid before 2100. The blast would equal to 100 Mtons in trinitrotoluol equivalent and kill millions of people if it hits a vast industrial region with many hazardous enterprises. Scientists are quite alarmed because they register additional asteroids buzzing the Earth. Spaceguard Survey, an international service responsible for detecting and tracking potentially dangerous space objects, has now been established.