“For a one-nanometer fall, we can ignore Earth’s gravity for 20 millionths of a second as Z produces a burst of X-rays that sweeps over the mock-asteroid surface 12.5 millimeters across, about the width of a finger,” said Moore.

Exploding a nuclear bomb above a huge asteroid could vaporize its surface using X-rays, pushing the space rock away from Earth.

Scientists in New Mexico conducted several experiments and learned that asteroids can be deflected from Earth using explosions of nuclear warheads above the space rock's surface.

Scientists have found nuclear weapons could actually help deflect an incoming cosmic impact — not by blowing an asteroid up, but by showering it with X-ray radiation.

Researchers theorize X-rays from a nuclear explosion could be used to vaporize an asteroid's surface, altering its trajectory.