Scientists are tracking an asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth and could end all life on the planet in 2880.

The asteroid apparently is continuing a collision course despite any gravitational factors that should be weighing on it as it passes other celestial objects.  Researchers at the University of Tennessee are tracking the object called 1950 DA.

The scientists have already calculated that attempting to blow up the asteroid would not be effective because it would break into smaller pieces that would have the same trajectory and thus cause more significant impacts.

The scientists say that the asteroid’s impact would have the same force as 44,800 megatons of TNT.  Tsunamis would swamp the globe and the climate change would be devastating to human life.

The University of Tennessee team found that the asteroid is rotating so rapidly that it “defies gravity”.  The forces holding the asteroid together have never been previously detected by scientists.

The findings were published in the journal Nature.