“An asteroid measuring four kilometers (4.1Km) wide and big enough to end human civilizations is expected too potentially pass close the Earth in April.”
In the wake of already existing Covid-19 Coronavirus, an asteroid big enough to end human civilizations is expected to pass close by Earth in April. Confirmed by NASA, the colossal rock, estimated to measure up to 2.5 miles (4.1 km) across named 52768 (1998 OR2) – rolls right off.
At a current speed of 8.7km/second or 31,320 kmh/ 19,461 mph, the asteroid is projected to pass by Earth on 29th April and will be 0.04205 astronomical units away from our home planet at its closest. The Asteroid is said to be the average distance from our planet to Sun, meaning it is just 3.9 million miles away at its nearest. Or 19.36 times the distance from Earth to Moon.
The Asteroid crossed at a speed of nearly 34,000 miles per hour that is about 20 times as fast as F-16 jet fighter flying at maximum velocity. It is also discovered that, the Asteroid is defined as a ‘potentially hazardous’ near Earth object (NEO) by the CNEOS.
The Asteroid 1998 OR2 was first spotted in 1998 and has been tracked by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) system, managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Near- Earth Objects:
As per the Near Earth Object Preparedness Strategy, Objects close to and larger than one km can cause damage on a global scale, triggering earthquakes, tsunamis, and other secondary effects that extend far beyond the immediate impact area. Near-Earth objects are those that travel within the 50 million km of the Earth orbit.
In the past, an asteroid called 3122 Florence (1981 ET3) with a diameter of 2.45 km flew close to Earth’s orbit on September 1, 2017 and is predicted to make another pass on September 2, 2057, near Earth’s orbit.
As per NASA’s estimates, no asteroid or comet is currently on a collision course with Earth and therefore, the probability if a huge asteroid hitting Earth is quite slim. In fact, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next hundred years as best described by NASA. Astronomers estimate that there’s one in 50,000 chance of hitting Earth every 100 years.
Recently, NASA’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) detected 11 Asteroids that pose danger to Earth. Asteroids frequently pass by Earth’s neighbourhood due to our planets’s gravitational forces.
So there you have it: There is no source of panic.
Imagine you managing to survive the global Coronavirus epidemic, you still have a chance of getting blasted out of existence by an Asteroid randomly passing by Earth!
To know more about Architecture Technology, Stay Tuned.
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