100m wide asteroid to have near miss with Earth in July

On July 7, an asteroid which is around 100m in diameter is set to skim passed Earth.

The 2015 HM10 will pass within 280,000 miles of us. Although this may seem far, in relative terms it is actually fairly close with an LD distance – measured by how many times it would take us get to the moon – of just 1.1.

Nasa had given the asteroid a condition code of 7 – which means that they were not completely certain about the outcome of the asteroid and the path that it would take, with nine being the most uncertain.

This prompted conspiracy theorists to flee to online forums to discuss the earth's imminent doom, but experts claim that this theory is completely wide of the mark.

Speaking to IBTimes UK, Jay Tate, director of the Spaceguard Centre, says the asteroid will have "absolutely" no effect on us whatsoever.

"This isn't significant enough for us to worry about. It's not on the risk list, it'll probably be on the close approach list but it's of no major consequence to us. It's a good solid miss. It will be visible [to us in the UK] -- but you'll need a telescope."

Currently there are 1,572 potentially hazardous asteroids (PHA) swirling around the solar system but none are currently thought to be on a collision course with our planet. However some scientists and politicians believe more resources should be invested in keeping an eye on the sky.