NASA scientists outsmarted by 13-year-old schoolboy!

A 13-year-old schoolboy stunned NASA scientists after he corrected their estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth.

London, Apr 17 : A 13-year-old schoolboy stunned NASA scientists after he corrected their estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth.

According to reports, Nico Marquardt used telescopic findings from the Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam (AIP) to calculate that there was a 1 in 450 chance that the Apophis asteroid will collide with Earth.

NASA had previously estimated the chances at only 1 in 45,000 but told its sister organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), that the young whizzkid had got it right, reports The Sun.

The schoolboy took into account the possibility that Apophis could smash into some of the 40,000 satellites orbiting the Earth as it passes close to the planet on April 13, 2029.

And the collision could send the asteroid crashing into the Atlantic Ocean in 2036 as a 320-metre wide 200 billion tonne ball of iron.

The shockwaves would cause destruction and devastation, massive tsunami waves and thick dust that would cloud the skies.

ANI