NASA denies internet rumours that a giant asteroid will 'destroy the earth' in September

US space agency Nasa has been forced to deny widespread rumours that an asteroid heading our way will destroy the earth in the next three months - between 22 and 28 September, to be precise.

In recent weeks rumours about a giant asteroid heading earth's way have gone viral, with some conspiracy theorists and religious maniacs convinced that "mysterious " troop movements are preparation for "apocalypse riots" after the asteroid brings civilisation to a standstill.

1,200 troops across the US will soon be participating in a military exercise known as Jade Helm, but details about the operation are scarce - which has inevitably led to claims the troops are preparing for the end of the world.

"If we make it to fall, JH will just be a training exercise," wrote a blogger on Whistleblower800. "If not, Jade Helm will have troops in place to put down what is going to be pandemonium and revolution.

"For us, even if we don't live in the inner cities where the riots are bound to begin, the worst part is that we have been set up to be the opposition. The US military will shoot at us, because we will be seen as fools refusing to accept the sacrifices required to save our planet. If those of us with the guns don't wake up to it now, we are setting ourselves up for imprisonment and slaughter."

Meanwhile self-proclaimed prophet Rev Efrain Rodriguez told the Inquisitr that he had a message from God telling him the asteroid would strike near Puerto Rico, devastating the US.

Other theories include the end of the world being triggered by the reopening of the CERN Large Hadron Collider, the logo of which is said to be 666 and the eruption of a super-volcano.

Others refer to comments by French foreign minister Laurent Fabius in a meeting with John Kerry in 2014 in which he said there were only 500 days to avoid climate chaos - which believers say suggests "the Rapture" is nigh.

Nasa debunked the asteroid claims, saying: "Nasa knows of no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth, so the probability of a major collision is quite small. In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years."