--- title: The Chance of Asteroids Hitting Earth Is Bigger Than We Thought description: Asteroid impacts on Earth are about 3-10 times more common than previously thought, new data shows canonical: https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/ author: Michelle Arrouas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-23T06:25:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:25.267Z article:section: Science og:title: The Chance of Asteroids Hitting Earth Is Bigger Than We Thought og:description: Asteroid impacts on Earth are about 3-10 times more common than previously thought, new data shows og:url: https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fe4a6e40e78ef3/69868bfe169ab03756278f32/ap35974658415.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Asteroid og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Chance of Asteroids Hitting Earth Is Bigger Than We Thought twitter:description: Asteroid impacts on Earth are about 3-10 times more common than previously thought, new data shows twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fe4a6e40e78ef3/69868bfe169ab03756278f32/ap35974658415.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Next 'City-Killer' Asteroid Could Be Closer Than We Think ## Video: ‘City Killer’ Sized Asteroids Might Hit Earth More Frequently Than Previously Thought [Watch (HLS stream): ‘City Killer’ Sized Asteroids Might Hit Earth More Frequently Than Previously Thought](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/67dF3kd8.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2014-04-23. According to data just released Tuesday, 26 large asteroids collided with Earth between 2000 and 2013, and the only thing preventing one from hitting a major city is “blind luck.” The organization distributing the data is looking for $450 million._ by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Apr 23, 2014 6:25 AM UTC  A February 15, 2013 photo shows a meteorite contrail over the Ural Mountains' city of Chelyabinsk in Russia. A February 15, 2013 photo shows a meteorite contrail over the Ural Mountains' city of Chelyabinsk in Russia.Yekaterina Pustynnikova—Associated Press by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Apr 23, 2014 6:25 AM UTC Asteroids as powerful as atomic bombs may [hit](http://www.cnet.com/news/see-where-26-asteroids-smacked-earth-with-a-bomb-force-since-2000/) the Earth more often than we previously thought. New data [shows](https://b612foundation.org) how and where 26 asteroids collided with our planet from 2000 to 2013, according to research released in a [video](https://b612foundation.org) by the B612 Foundation. “It shows that asteroid impacts are not rare, but actually three to ten times more common than we previously thought,” [said](http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=42977) Edward Lu, a member of the B612 Foundation, which was founded by two former astronauts to raise money for a space telescope to spot asteroids heading toward Earth. “The fact that none of these asteroid impacts shown in the video was detected in advance, is proof that the only thing preventing a catastrophe from a ‘city-killer’ sized asteroid is blind luck,” he added. [B612 Impact Video 4-20-14 H264](http://vimeo.com/92478179) from [D Josh Rosen](http://vimeo.com/b612clips) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/"},"headline":"The Next 'City-Killer' Asteroid Could Be Closer Than We Think","datePublished":"2014-04-23T06:25:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:25.267Z","description":"Asteroid impacts on Earth are three to ten times more common than we imagined, new data shows, with researchers saying that only “blind luck” is preventing a disastrous strike from a \"city killer\" asteroid","url":"https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/","keywords":["astronomy","Space","Technology","asteroids"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fe4a6e40e78ef3/69868bfe169ab03756278f32/ap35974658415.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85fe4a6e40e78ef3/69868bfe169ab03756278f32/ap35974658415.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Asteroid","caption":"Asteroid Hit","creditText":"Yekaterina Pustynnikova—Associated Press","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/astronomy/","name":"astronomy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/","name":"The Next 'City-Killer' Asteroid Could Be Closer Than We Think"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"‘City Killer’ Sized Asteroids Might Hit Earth More Frequently Than Previously Thought","description":"According to data just released Tuesday, 26 large asteroids collided with Earth between 2000 and 2013, and the only thing preventing one from hitting a major city is “blind luck.” The organization distributing the data is looking for $450 million.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/67dF3kd8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-23T17:34:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/67dF3kd8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/73181/asteroids-earth-atomic-bombs/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```