NASA identifies 90% of asteroids near Earth

The U.S. space agency announced Thursday that there is 90 percent less chance for asteroids crashing with Earth. Asteroids are icy metallic rocks orbiting around the Sun.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that it identified 90 percent of asteroids near Earth that included some as big as the ones that might have killed dinosaurs.

"We know now where most of them are and where most of them are going. That really has reduced our risk of an impact,” said Amy Mainzer of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Since 2009, NASA has used Wide-field Infrared telescopes to seek out near-Earth asteroids and has collected new data. With the sensitive telescope, the researchers updated the data of medium-sized asteroids. Even though they updated the number, the researchers are yet to find the location of these asteroids.

"Fewer does not mean none," Mainzer said. "There are still tens of thousands out there that are left to find."