An asteroid the width of a full-size football pitch could hit Earth in seven years, astronomers have warned.

A space rock between 40 and 100 metres wide was spotted on Christmas Day by a telescope in Chile, in South America, which specialises in identifying objects in space which could collide with our planet.

Analysis of the rock and its flight revealed it is currently moving away from Earth at around 38,000mph but its orbit will bring it into close proximity around Christmas 2032.

Official estimates state there is around a 1.2 per cent chance of the asteroid, codenamed 2024 YR4, hitting Earth at 5.25am on Wednesday, Dec 22 2032.

It is believed to be the highest risk of an asteroid collision ever recorded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Christmas asteroid was placed immediately atop the official “asteroid risk list”.

The second highest risk has just a 0.68 per cent chance of hitting Earth. Astronomers have rated the threat of the new asteroid as being a level three on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale which measures how concerned we should be about an asteroid hitting Earth.

This is the highest level for any asteroid currently being monitored and two international organisations are now assessing how to proceed.