2007 WD 5 - new asteroid likely to hit mars in January 2008

2007 WD5 is a newly discovered asteroid that has a chance of 1 in 75 of colliding with the red plant mars.

The 2007 WD5 asteroid was discovered in late november and its currently halfway between earth and mars. If the asteroid does smash into Mars, it will likely hit near the equator close to where the rover Opportunity has been exploring mars since 2004.

If the 2007 WD5 directly hits the red planet speeding at 13 kilometres a second Such a collision would carve a hole the size of the famed Meteor Crater in Arizona.

Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said " The odds are extremely unusual" and "it's going to fly by Mars and most likely going to miss, but there's a possibility of an impact," he said.

The engergy of 2007 WD5 unleashed would be equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb, similar to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, wiping out 60 million trees.