ANU finds new evidence of asteroid impact EVIDENCE of a massive asteroid strike about 300 million years ago has been found in central Australia. Research from the Australian National University says the East Warburton Basin in northeast South Australia contains evidence thought to be caused by an asteroid measuring 10 to 20 kilometres in diameter that hit Earth more than 298 million years ago. Andrew Glikson, a visiting fellow in the ANU Planetary Science Institute and the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology, studied the impact following a suggestion by Tonguc Uysal of the University of Queensland. "The size of the shock metamorphic terrain, larger than 200 kilometres in diameter, makes it the third-largest discovered to date on Earth," Dr Glikson said in a statement on Friday. It is also possible that the asteroid impact dates back to the late Devonian period - 360 million years ago - a time of major mass extinction. Dr Glikson says research into past asteroid impacts is essential in the face of potential future asteroid encounters. This weekend, an asteroid - 2012 DA14 - will pass just 34,000 kilometres from Earth, potentially interfering with communication satellites. If the asteroid was to hit Earth, it would make a crater up to one kilometre wide, he said.