By Xinhua
Los Angeles : U.S. scientists ruled out on Friday the possibility of a collision between an approaching asteroid and Mars.
Tracking measurements of asteroid 2007 WD5 taken from four observatories have greatly reduced uncertainties about its Jan. 30close approach to Mars so that the odds of impact have dropped to 1 in 10,000, said the Near-Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory based in Pasadena, California. The program normally looks for asteroids and comets that could pose a hazard to Earth.
The asteroid was estimated to pass at a distance of more than 16,000 miles (25,600 kilometers) from the surface of Mars, or at worst, no closer than 2,480 miles (3,968 kilometers), according to scientists at the program.
The asteroid was discovered in November. Initial observations of its orbit raised the odds of an impact to as high as 1 in 25 before further refinements came in.
The asteroid is big enough to have blasted a 0.8 kilometer-wide crater in the cold and dusty Martian surface.