8 Things That Would Happen If An Asteroid Hit Earth

News stories about asteroid flybys and "near misses" (although they're never really that near) seem to be becoming increasingly common these days - but what would happen if one actually hit us?

When you think of asteroid impacts (as you do), the first thing to spring to mind is probably the one that took out the dinosaurs. It was this impact, wiping out 80% of life on Earth, that allowed mammals and, ultimately, us to thrive. There is still much debate as to exactly how this extinction event went down, or even if it did at all, but even non-scientists would agree that a collision with a space rock big enough to blow a hole in Mexico is bad news.

What would happen, then, if we were to wake up tomorrow morning to the news that a big old hunk of space b*stard was heading our way? Short of sending Bruce Willis up with a nuke, we'd have to get used to the idea that our lovely blue skies are about turn turn a fiery shade of death.

Thanks to the wonders of science and computer simulations, we don't have to endure the real deal to figure out what asteroid based armageddon would look like. It's not pretty.