KILLER asteroids that could destroy the earth will be hunted by astronomers.

Durham University astronomers have signed an agreement to exploit a revolutionary new survey telescope in Hawaii that is expected to identify dangers and discover billions of new stars, galaxies and objects in the solar system.

The astronomers lead a UK partnership made up of Queen's University Belfast and the University of Edinburgh, which has joined a select group of US and German institutions to use an advanced new telescope on the Hawaiian island of Maui -one of the world's prime astronomical sites.

The huge Pan-Starrs telescope is equipped with the world's largest digital camera.

While monitoring the sky in the hunt for asteroids that might head our way, scientists will also build up the most detailed image yet of the universe around us.

It will enable astronomers to investigate small objects in the solar system, search for exploding stars, or supernovae, to produce three- dimensional maps of galaxies and dark matter, to measure their energy and to investigate how galaxies have evolved over half the age of the universe.

Cosmologist and director of Durham's Institute for Computational Cosmology, Professor Carlos Frenk, said: "Pan-Starrs is a truly innovative concept that will enable us to tackle some of the outstanding questions in science today, from the threat of killer asteroids to the origin of galaxies and the identity of the dark matter and the dark energy.

"New results and insights are inevitable."

Prof Frenk is supported by Durham's head of astronomy and astrophysics, Prof Martin Ward, and Prof Shaun Cole, who researches galaxy formations.

Scientists' perception of the cosmos has fundamentally changed in the past few years.

Novel technologies have led to a swathe of exciting discoveries, from new planets orbiting nearby stars to the mysterious dark energy that is causing our universe to expand at an ever-accelerating rate.

The cutting-edge imaging capability of the telescope will open up a new window to these fundamental problems.

Durham's participation in the project is supported by the Ogden Trust, named after the benefactor businessman and Durham physics graduate, Professor Sir Peter Ogden.