A stunning fireball that crackled across the sky near the Russian-Finnish border last year shared its orbit with a huge asteroid found in October. This is according to a new study which claims the Kola fireball had a 'disturbingly similar' path to asteroid 2014 UR116, which is due to pass by the moon in 2017. Spotted on April 19 last year, researchers used camera footage to help recreate its trajectory and hunt down any remaining fragments. A stunning fireball that crackled across the sky near the Russian-Finnish border last year shared its orbit with a huge asteroid found in October. Pictured is he fireball at the time of entry at the Kola Peninsula . Joseph Maria Trigo-Rodríguez, a researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, headed the team of scientists who studied the meteorite's orbit. They determined the fireball's path by studying its flight and the meteorite's final impact site, before creating a computer model based on those figures. This led researchers to the Annama meteorite, which is an ordinary H5 chondrite - a group of space rocks with high strength that make up 31 per cent of meteorite falls. The computer model compared the orbit of Annama, a 1,100lb (500kg) rock, with the evolution of a dozen orbits of near-Earth asteroids. Scientists determined the fireball's path by studying its flight and the meteorite's final impact site, before creating a computer model based on those figures. This led researchers to the Annama meteorite (pictured) The computer model compared the orbit of Annama (pictured), a 1,100lb (500kg) rock, with the evolution of a dozen orbits of near-Earth asteroids . 2014 UR116, a mountain-sized asteroid which passes Earth every three years, was discovered by Russian scientists in December. Vladimir Lipunov, a professor at Moscow State University, said the space rock, poses no immediate threat - although warned it could 'theoretically' hit Earth.. However, he said it highlights the damage an asteroid could cause - in this case an explosion 1,000 times greater than the surprise 2013 impact of a bus-sized meteor in Russia. At 400-metres (1,300 feet) in size, the space rock is about the same size as the Empire State Building is tall. Proffesor Lipunov said it is difficult to calculate the orbit of big rocks like '2014 UR116' because their trajectories are constantly being changed by the gravitational pull of other planets. It showed a similarity with the evolution of 2014 UR116, which given its size and minimum distance to the planet, has been classed a 'potentially dangerous asteroid'. Vladimir Lipunov, a professor at Moscow State University, said the space rock, poses no immediate threat - although warned it could 'theoretically' hit Earth. Currently, 1,573 asteroids of this type are known so researchers are investigating to what extent they can pose a danger. While the study does not claim that asteroid 2014 UR116 sent the Annama meteorite directly at Earth, it suggests the two bodies are related. Scientists believe that streams of asteroid fragments can travel on nearly identical orbits. Tidal forces may disperse the debris over time and asteroids can also break up due to the pull of large planets. 'The tidal effect on an asteroid, which rapidly rotates under the gravitational field of a planet, can fragment these objects or release large rocks from its surface,' said Trigo. '[This] could then become such dangerous projectiles at a local scale as the one fell in Cheliábinsk (Russia) on February 15th 2013'. Manuel Moreno-Ibáñez, CSIC researcher that participated in the study, explains: 'The data we have obtained provided new clues about the origin of the rocks with a few meters in diameter that produce meteorite falls. 'So far, we only know the orbits of other 22 meteorites, and not always with the sought accuracy.' The researchers hope their latest study will help shed light on how asteroid create projectiles, and which ones pose a threat to Earth. Knowing where the meteorite originates could also help them us better understand the formation and evolution of the solar system. The Kola Peninsula, where the fireball hit, is a peninsula in the far northwest of Russia. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely to the north of the Arctic Circle .
Scientists created a computer model to analyse Kola fireball's trajectory.
It had similar orbit to asteroid 2014 UR116 due to pass by moon in 2017.
This suggests the two bodies may be related as streams of asteroid fragments can travel on nearly identical orbits.