Astronomers say they have found the largest planet killer-sized asteroid in eight years, and that it will cross Earth's path.
The asteroid was reported to be in the vicinity of Earth and Venus.
Scott Sheppard and colleagues at the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington say they have found three large asteroids, one of which crosses the Earth's path, making it a potentially dangerous asteroid.
The largest PHA discovered in the last three years is likely to be in the top 5% of the largest ever found.
The impact of an asteroid over 1 km in size would be devastating to life as we know it, with dust and pollutants kicked up into the atmosphere, where they would linger for years.
The Earth's surface would cool a lot if sunlight didn't get to it. He said that it would be a mass extinction event.
The study offers reassurance, even though it may bring to mind visions of the asteroid Armageddon depicted in the movie Don't Look Up.
When the Earth is on the other side of the sun, AP7 won't be able to hit the Earth.
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Sheppard said that the asteroid will start to move closer to where we are. He said that this will be centuries into the future and that we don't know the exact location of AP7 yet.
The team expects to find a few more planet-killer near-earth objects 1 km in size or larger in the next year or two through their survey work.
The director of the National Earth Near Objects Information Centre in mid Wales told the Guardian that the Earth was a very small target. The impact probability is low right now. I wouldn't say it's very low.
The Dart mission was launched in September of this year to try and get a craft into an asteroid. The goal of the mission was to see if technology could be used to tackle space rocks. Researchers said last month that Dart had been a success.
Given the size of the asteroid, an approach like Dart might not be suitable, but there are other ways to approach it.
He said it might be possible to use multiple Dart-like impacts to shift the asteroid's path.
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