A Russian scientist says he's found a mountain-sized asteroid that crosses paths with the Earth every three years.

Vladimir Lipunov, a professor at Moscow State University, said the space rock named "2014 UR116" isn't an immediate threat to the Earth, despite recent media reports.

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Lipunov, however, warned the asteroid may probably hit the Earth with an explosion 1,000 times greater than the impact of a bus-sized meteor that exploded in mid-air over Russia in 2013.

The meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere over the city of Chelyabinsk. It caused a series of violent blasts that smashed windows, damaged building and injured hundreds of people.

Lipunov stated it's hard to calculate the orbit of big rocks just like 2014 UR116 because their trajectories are constantly being altered by the gravitational pull of other planets.

"We need to permanently track this asteroid, because even a small mistake in calculations could have serious consequences," he said.

Scientists have only tracked and catalogued 11,000 out of 100,000 dangerous Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that cross our planet's orbit.

NASA doesn't appear to consider 2014 UR116 an immediate threat to our planet, however.

"While this approximately 400 meter-sized asteroid has a three-year orbital period around the sun and returns to the Earth's neighborhood periodically, it does not represent a threat because its orbital path does not pass sufficiently close to the Earth's orbit," NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office said in a statement.

NASA's NEO program manager Donald Yeomans said the asteroid will move closer to the Earth in 150 years.

Tagsasteroid, NASA, 2014 UR116, asteroid 2014 UR116, near-Earth objects, space exploration, solar system, Chelyabinsk, Russia