An asteroid heading towards Mars will not hit the Red Planet on January 30, although it was pass very close, according to the Italian astrophysicist who discovered it.
''It will come probably within some 26,000km of Mars, a very close distance in astronomical terms,'' said Andrea Boattini, who on November 20 discovered not only the asteroid, code-named Wd5, but also a comet which now bears his name.
''It was not exactly the best night for such discoveries, just four days before a full moon, but I guess I was just lucky,'' Boattini said.
The 38-year-old Italian astrophysicist works for the University of Arizona at the Mount Lemmon Observatory. He is also engaged in NASA's Catalina Sky Survey program which is dedicated to searching the skies for asteroids travelling near the earth.
According to Boattini, Wd5 ''will also pass by the Earth, but it will come no closer than five million km, so there are no risks for our planet''.
Wd5 is about 50 meters wide and was spotted by Boattini in the constellation of Taurus, when it was some 15 million km from earth.
Following its discovery, the asteroid was monitored by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well as by a group of Italian experts headed by Andrea Milani of the University of Pisa.
Although there is now only a one in a million chance that Wd5 will hit Mars, Boattini observed, ''there is a one in 1,000 chance it will come within 4,000km and the planet could radically change the asteroid's orbit, making it extremely difficult to plot''.
Boattini's comet is currently passing through the solar system and is expected to pass by Earth and Venus this summer.
It was spotted with a 1.5-metre diameter reflective telescope and has officially been named C/2007 W1 Boattini.
Although it is now very difficult to see from Earth, Boattini estimates that for a few weeks this summer it will be visible from Earth using binoculars.
