Space experts warned this week of a space rock the size of an Olympic swimming pool. May collide with Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046 – But how many more?
The good news is that it’s not time to head for the doomsday bunker just yet.
However, there are several asteroids that could hit Earth in the next few centuries, and space agencies around the world are paying close attention to these.
Scroll down to read about the six asteroids.
NASA also successfully conducted an experiment in which a small spacecraft collided with a rock in space and deflected it.
The good news is that very large asteroids of the type that killed the dinosaurs are being monitored, and the chances of them all hitting Earth are deemed “very unlikely”.
More than 100 tons of rock particles hit Earth every day, but a football-field-sized asteroid hits only once every 2,000 years, according to NASA.
The asteroid that ended civilization hits our planet only once every million years. Rocks of this size are carefully monitored.
So the rocks that are most likely to hit the Earth will probably burn up in the atmosphere or cause minimal damage – not the end-of-civilization effects beloved in Hollywood movies.
The Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia in 2013, injuring 1,500 people, was just 59 feet in diameter.
In the 2013 Chelyabinsk earthquake, 1,500 people were injured and 7,300 buildings damaged due to severe overpressure caused by ground shock waves.
NASA and other space agencies closely monitor “potentially dangerous asteroids.”
Asteroids are rated on three scales for their likelihood of colliding with Earth. The Turin Scale is a 1 to 10 graph from 0 (does not hit Earth) to 10 (hit Earth and is catastrophic).
There are currently no asteroids ranked above 1.
The related Palermo scale is used by scientists to rank risks over time. NASA’s Sentry Risk Table classifies asteroids according to their risk of colliding with Earth.
First sightings of asteroids tend to be brief, and as scientists get more data, the chance of a collision goes down.
Name: 2023 DW
What are the possible impacts? 1 in 1,584
Date of Potential Impact: 14 February 2046
Experts warned this week that the 160-foot asteroid could trigger an explosion similar to the Tunguska event that knocked down more than 80 million trees.
But the odds of a rock hitting the Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046 have since dropped significantly.
Richard Moissl, director of ESA’s Office of Planetary Defense, has reduced the chance of an asteroid hitting Earth from 1 in 784 to 1 in 1,584.
Moissi said: No one should worry about this guy.
Name: Bennu
What are the possible impacts? 1 in 2,700
Potential Impact Date: September 24, 2182
Bennu could hit Earth late next century (NASA)
Bennu, slightly wider than New York’s Empire State Building, was visited by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2020 to collect material from its surface.
Bennu is over 4.5 billion years old, and scientists estimate there is a 1 in 2,700 chance of colliding with Earth in the late 22nd century.
Dante Lauretta, a professor at the University of Arizona, has previously said that a collision with Bennu would release “three times the energy of all nuclear weapons detonated throughout history.”
“The collision will release an energy equivalent to 1,450 megatons of TNT equivalent.”
“For comparison, the fission bombs used in World War II each released about 20 kilotonnes of TNT energy, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, the Russian Tsar Bomba, released 50 megatonnes. released the energy of
Name: 2010RF12
What are the possible impacts? one tenth
Potential Impact Date: September 5, 2095
Instead of reaching the ground, this asteroid will likely explode in a fireball (stock image) experts suggest
This asteroid is classified as the most likely to hit our planet in the next century, with a 1 in 10 chance of hitting Earth, but don’t panic. It’s pretty small.
Space Rock, due to arrive just before the end of this century, is believed to be about 21 feet in diameter.
Therefore, instead of colliding with the surface of the earth, it would probably explode in a huge airburst in the upper atmosphere, leaving only pebbles to reach the ground.
Name: 1950 DA
What are the possible impacts? 1 in 34,000
Potential Impact Date: March 16, 2880
The risk of this 0.5-mile-wide asteroid colliding with Earth is fairly high, 1 in 34,000.
It’s also considered dangerous due to its size, but it won’t take another eight centuries.
First discovered in the 1950s, it got its name because it began to be observed at the turn of the 2000s.
In 2032, it will pass at close range, 6,959,357 miles away, allowing further observations.
NASA points out that it will take 35 generations to address this issue.
Hundreds of years of warning warned NASA that if it was finally determined that the 1950 DA needed to be repurposed, the surface of the asteroid would be sprinkled with chalk or charcoal, or perhaps white glass beads, or sent solar cells. A method as simple as a sail spacecraft that ends by collapsing a reflective sail around an asteroid could be possible.
“These change the reflectivity of the asteroid, allowing sunlight to act as a push to push the asteroid out of the way.”
Name: Tutatis
What are the possible impacts?rear
Date of potential impact: 2562
A giant asteroid caused scare in 2004, but won’t be back for a while (NASA)
Toutatis won’t be back near Earth for some time (NASA)
The giant asteroid, 3 miles wide, came close to Earth in 2004 and passed four times the distance from Earth to the Moon. And provoked a wave of unjust doom predictions.
NASA predicts that another such flyby will not occur until 2562.
“A series of optical and radar observations indicate that Toutatis’ orbit is one of the best-determined orbits of any asteroid,” NASA said. There is no possibility of doing so,” he said. At least 5th century.
