Giant Meteor: 2068 9news.com.au

An asteroid three times the size of a football field is speeding up as it heads towards Earth, new evidence has revealed.

Researchers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy have found the Apophis asteroid — named after the Egyptian god of chaos — has accelerated due to something known as the Yarkovsky effect.

Scientists claim the phenomenon increases the possibility Apophis will make impact with Earth in 2068; an event previously thought “impossible”.