NASA has spent seven years trying to prevent Bennu — an asteroid taller than the Empire State Building and named after ancient Egypt’s fiery bird-god — from crashing cataclysmically into Earth.
While Bennu’s chances of impact are just 1-in-2,700, more than five times a person’s chance of being struck by lightning, NASA’s team nevertheless has categorized it as one of the two ‘most hazardous known asteroids.’
In a worst-case scenario, the roughly 510-meter wide, carbon-based behemoth would smash into Earth