Fragments from a newly discovered comet have been under intense observation by astronomers who believe they could be on a collision course with Earth, Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported.
Their concern was heightened by the fact that the comet has broken up into fragments - just like comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which spectacularly hit Jupiter in July.The new comet, known as Machholz-2, was discovered last month by an American astronomer as it raced toward the Sun. But as other observers turned their telescopes toward the object, they found the comet had broken up.
By Saturday a total of five fragments had been seen - all on a path that brings them with orbit of Earth.
Information from observatories so far suggests that if the fragments keep to their current trajectories, they should avoid an impact with Earth. However, astronomers warned that it was extremely hard to predict their long-term be-hav-ior.
Duncan Steel of the Anglo-Australian Observatory told the Telegraph that the influence of Jupiter would dominate their orbital be-hav-ior.
"It's most likely that Jupiter will pick up the objects and throw them out of the Solar System again. As far as we can tell, they should not hit the Earth in the next 100 years," he said, but added: "We might be wrong.
"It could happen in the next few decades. What we need are more observations so that we can get a more accurate orbit."