The infamous "God of Chaos" asteroid could be tipped onto a collision course with Earth, scientists have warned. The asteroid, named Apophis, is set to pass by our planet in a few years' time - but in new research,

Asteroid Apophis doesn’t currently pose a threat to Earth when it passes by in a few years, but an astrophysicist has envisioned a scenario where that could change.

About 66 million years ago, a city-sized asteroid struck Earth, creating a 100-mile-wide crater in Mexico and causing the extinction of the nonavian dinosaurs.

Astronomer Paul Wiegert had found a scenario in which Apophis could be sent careening into Earth in 2029. But we’d have to be extremely unlucky.

Apophis, a large asteroid measuring 340-450 meters, will pass within 37,000 kilometers of Earth in April 2029. Though visible to the naked eye, the chance of collision remains low.

Asteroid Apophis was initially discovered in 2004 and immediately became a talking point as potentially hazardous asteroids, which have widths of 460 feet or more and come within 20 lunar distances of the Earth.

Apophis will come close enough to Earth to be seen with the naked eye in 2029, but a chance encounter with another asteroid could steer 'God of Destruction' space rock destructively close on a future pass.

Paul Wiegert, an astronomer at Canada's Western University, has published a study in The Planetary Science Journal warning about a potential collision. He claims that there is a chance less than one in two billion that the 375-metres-wide Apophis may end up striking our planet, Futurism reported.

An astrophysicist at the University of Western Ontario finds that the odds of the asteroid 99942 Apophis striking Earth are slightly higher than previously thought. In his study, published in The Planetary Science Journal,