2007 FT3: will this lost asteroid hit the Earth next year? Everything you need to know

There are always asteroids near Earth, and currently, that number stands at 32,000, with more than 120 known short-period near-Earth comets (NECs). The near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) tend to be tracked by Nasa's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) and aren't predicted to come anywhere near the planet for hundreds of years.

However, there is one that the American Space Agency thinks could potentially strike the Earth as soon as October 2024.

In 2007, scientists spotted 2007 FT3 floating through space, but soon lost its flight path, with the agency dubbing it a "lost asteroid" Nasa has calculated a 0.0000096 %— or 1 in 10 million — chance of striking our planet on 3 March 2030.

However, it only had a 1.2 observation arc, and retracting it has been unsuccessful since its initial discovery.

But, there has been another estimate that suggests the asteroid has a probability of 0.0000087%, or 1 in 11.5 million chance of striking the Earth on 5 October 2024 - which, if it did hit the Earth could release the energy equivalent to the detonation of 2.6 billion tons of TNT. Any collision with the asteroid could cause a considerable amount of regional destruction and possibly global damage.

Another asteroid that could cause that much damage is 29075 (1950 DA). It was first discovered in 1950 but scientists lost track of it for 50 years before finding its path once again. It has a 0.0029%, or 1 in 34,500 chance of hitting Earth on 16 March 2880, a time way, way into the future.