The first asteroid, designated 2016 CZ31, will fly past Earth at around 1 a.m. next Friday at an estimated speed of 55,618 kilometers per hour, the NASA. Astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about 122 meters at its widest point, about the height of a 40-story building.
The asteroid becomes ours planets likely to miss and fly past Earth at a distance of about 1,700,000 miles. But the trajectory could shift, which could have serious consequences. According to NASA, the asteroid approaches Earth every few years, with the next time expected in January 2028.
Am Saturday then a second, even larger asteroid will pass our planet. Dubbed 2013 CU83, the asteroid measures about 183 meters at its widest point and will fly by about 6,960,000 kilometers from Earth. This colossal space rock will then move slightly more slowly, at a speed of 21,168 kilometers per hour, as it approaches Earth at 01:37.
Why are near-Earth objects dangerous?
NASA and other space agencies are watching these objects closely. Even if an asteroid’s trajectory is millions of kilometers away, there’s a small chance that the asteroid’s orbit will shift slightly. Even a tiny change in course could put an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
For this reason, the space agencies take the protection of the planet very seriously. In November 2021, NASA launched an asteroid deflection spacecraft which will collide directly with the asteroid “Dimorphos” in autumn 2022. The collision will not destroy the asteroid, but may slightly change the orbit of the space rock, like Live Science already reported. The mission will help test the feasibility of asteroid deflection should a future asteroid pose an imminent threat to our planet, it said Space.com.
What happens when an asteroid hits Earth?
The damage caused by an asteroid impact depends largely on the size of the object. Few have the potential that mankind to wipe out. In fact, a meteorite, i.e. a small fragment of an asteroid, hits the earth about every day – often unnoticed. Fortunately, larger impacts are rare. For example, the impact of a 20-meter meteorite, which hit the area around the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013, is known. The blast was so strong that windows shattered. There were injuries and damage to buildings.
Different scenario: An asteroid the size of a normal house would hit Earth at about 30,000 miles per hour. The energy of this asteroid is roughly equivalent to the energy of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima, according to Space.com. If the asteroid were the size of a 20-story building, it could have the same amount of energy as today’s atomic bombs. Within a five-mile radius, reinforced concrete buildings would be reduced to rubble and most major cities would be completely destroyed.
For an asteroid to wipe out almost everything on Earth, it would have to be huge. Scientists estimate that an asteroid eleven to twelve kilometers wide would have to hit the earth. After the impact, there would be a massive cloud of dust that would envelop the entire planet, blocking the sun and increasing temperatures at the impact site. billions of people would die and much of the life on the planet would be wiped out, it says Science.com.
scientist believe that some earthlings would survive despite such a gigantic impact. According to NASA scientists, an asteroid 96 kilometers wide would completely wipe out life on Earth.