A giant asteroid in our solar system, dubbed asteroid 1950 DA, could hit Earth in the year 2880 AD, scientists have warned few days back. The chance of asteroid 1950 DA's collision with Earth is merely 1-in-300.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Tennessee also assured that the asteroid's potential collision with Earth around nine centuries from now would not kill all the life on Earth.

The researchers claimed that they understand what not to do in order to prevent the asteroid from hitting our planet. While previous studies suggested that big asteroids were governed by gravitational forces that kept them together, a new study helped scientists conclude that some large asteroids like 1950 DA can not simply be held together by gravitational forces; rather they are governed by Van der Waals forces that keep them together.

Explaining the study, Ben Rizitis said that they "found that 1950 DA is rotating faster than the breakup limit for its density. So if just gravity were holding this rubble pile together, as is generally assumed, it would fly apart." Thus, they concluded that asteroids like 1950 DA must be held together by inter-particle cohesive forces.

The researcher also suggested that making attempts to destroy asteroids like 1950 DA by hitting them with rockets or some other large objects would be futile. Such attempts could in fact make their impact with Earth even worse.

The scientists added that the risk of collision is very low. However, if the asteroid manages to have a collision with our planet; it would cause massive quakes and tsunamis, leading to massive destruction.