Brian May's asteroid alert

Queen guitarist Brian May says it’s only a matter of time until humanity is destroyed by a giant asteroid hurtling into the earth.

May – who has a doctorate in astronomy – is one of a group of scientists who are calling for efforts to be increased to detect asteroids capable of causing widespread destruction of the planet.

May tells the Financial Times: “The more we learn about asteroid impacts, the clearer it becomes that the human race has been living on borrowed time. The campaign launched this week is intended to raise awareness and put pressure on governments to act.”

More than 100 people have joined the call for governments and private business to do more to track and detect asteroids.

Britain’s royal astronomer, Lord Rees, says that detecting the mass of small objects that could cause destruction on earth would require an infrared telescope mounted on a spacecraft orbiting between Earth and Venus.

Meanwhile, Queen and Adam Lambert will play 10 UK dates next year.

Queen and Adam Lambert 2015 UK dates

Jan 13: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena

Jan 14: Glasgow Hydro

Jan 17: London O2 Arena

Jan 20: Leeds First Direct Arena

Jan 21: Manchester Phones 4 U Arena

Jan 23: Birmingham NIA

Jan 24: Nottingham Capital FM Arena

Feb 24: London Wembley Arena

Feb 26: Liverpool Echo Arena

Feb 27: Sheffield Motorpoint Arena

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.