If you are still on Earth in 2036, there is a 1 in 5,560 chance you may witness the first asteroid to hit the earth’s surface in modern times. While those odds may not seem high to some, experts know better.

NASA’s Near Earth Object Program is tracking an asteroid named “Apophis.”

Apophis is a little more than 1,000 feet across and is traveling so fast that, if it were to collide with Earth, it would cause damage similar to an explosion of 850 million tons of TNT.

Michael Fortner, an associate physics professor at NIU, said Apophis will be as close to Earth as our communication satellites in 2029.

That is close enough that the earth’s force, or gravity, combined with the proportional density of the atmosphere and asteroid, could alter its shape or the direction of its path, depending on what it is made out of.

Since we do not know what the asteroid is made of, scientists do not know what affect the earth will have on it, and therefore do not know what will happen to the asteroid after 2029.

Yet experts say it may collide in 2036, seven years later.

After Apophis’ first brush by Earth in 2029, it will take seven years for it to orbit around and return to earth. If the course of the asteroid was altered even a little during its first run by earth, its second run could be on a collision course.

“[The asteroid] needs to be closely monitored,” Fortner said. “We may have to send a mission to place a probe on it to collect more information and surveillance.”

NASA uses a scale called the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, to determine the probability if an asteroid will impact Earth. This scale rates asteroids from zero to 10. Zero is no hazard; 10 a certain collision.

NASA’s Near Earth Object Web site showed Apophis is a one. While this may not be a high number, there are only two other asteroids rated one and all others are rated zero. The other two asteroids have more than 100 years before the projected collision date.

David Hedin, a physics professor at NIU, called the asteroid “a little rock in space that is going to come close to us.”

He said the asteroid is nothing like the big asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 100 million years ago.

“Even if it were to collide with Earth, it won’t wipe out civilization around the world,” he said.