1-in-75 chance of asteroid hitting Mars

La Canada Flintridge, Calif. -- Scientists with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said an asteroid has a good chance of colliding with Mars near the end of January.

Researchers with NASA's Near-Earth Object Program in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., said the asteroid has about a 1-in-75 chance of hitting the fourth planet from the sun on Jan. 30, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The 1-in-75 shot is "wildly unusual," said astronomer Steve Chesley with the Near-Earth Object office, which has been tracking the asteroid since it was sighted in November.

"We're used to dealing with odds like one-in-a-million," Chesley said.

"Something with a one-in-a-hundred chance makes us sit up straight in our chairs."

Asteroid 2007 WD5 measures about 160 feet across, a comparable size to the asteroid that flattened Siberian forests in 1908, the scientists said.

However, the asteroid that hit Siberia was broken up by the earth's atmosphere before impact, while 2007 WD5 would likely fall directly to the surface of Mars, leaving a half-mile-wide crater at the place of impact.

"Normally, we're rooting against the asteroid," when Earth is the target, Chesley said. "This time we're rooting for the asteroid to hit."

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.