An asteroid that could potentially wipe out life as we know it is due to fly 'close' to Earth this Saturday. While NASA is keeping an eye on the space rock, which is 230 metres (755 feet) in diameter, it says it won't come close enough to our planet to pose a threat. However, last week a leading astrophysicist warned the next asteroid strike is just a matter of time as thousands of potentially threatening objects circle Earth.
Scientists from NASA are tracking the asteroid, which is called 441987 (2010 NY65). It is travelling just 7.9 lunar distances (which is 1.8 million miles or 3 million km) from Earth. 441987 (2010 NY65) was discovered in July 2010 and is expected to come 'close' to Earth every year until 2022.
NASA has been contacted for comment. Dr. Alan Fitzsimmons from Queen’s University Belfast Astrophysics Research Centre warned it is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen, with more asteroids being discovered every day. An unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger one could potentially wipe out humanity, the expert warned.
“It is important to know that scientists and engineers have made great strides in detecting Near-Earth Asteroids and understanding the threat posed by them. Over 1,800 potentially hazardous objects have been discovered so far, but there are many more waiting to be found. Astronomers find Near-Earth Asteroids every day and most are harmless. But it is still possible the next Tunguska would take us by surprise, and although we are much better at finding larger asteroids that does us no good if we are not prepared to do something about them.” said Dr. Fitzsimmons from Queen’s University Belfast Astrophysics Research Centre.
Joined by scientist Brian Cox and astronauts such as Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and International Space Station astronaut Nicole Stott, Dr. Fitzsimmons is highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event this Friday.
On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles. The blast is thought to have been produced by a comet or asteroid hurtling through Earth's atmosphere at over 33,500mph, resulting in an explosion equal to 185 Hiroshima bombs as pressure and heat rapidly increased. The object likely entered the atmosphere at 9-19 miles per second, and would have been extremely fragile, destroying itself roughly six miles above Earth.
In January 2017, an asteroid as big as a 10-story building passed by Earth at a distance half that of the Moon and experts have previously warned that humans are not prepared for an asteroid impact and, should one head for Earth, there's not much we can do about it.
Asteroids are hunks of rocky space debris, left over from the creation of the planets, which whizz around our solar system, orbiting the sun. From time to time they cross paths with us and, while impacts on the scale of the infamous 6.2-mile (10km) 'dinosaur-destroyer' are rare, an asteroid a fifth the size could spell disaster for civilization.
With energy greater than 10 million Hiroshima bombs, the impact shock would flatten everything within a 186-mile (300km) radius. Dust and debris would cause an 'impact winter' and most living things would perish. Alternatively, an ocean strike would trigger monumental tsunamis, obliterate entire coastlines and inject seawater into the atmosphere, destroying huge swathes of the ozone layer and exposing survivors to devastating levels of UV radiation.
Dr. Joseph Nuth, is a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, and proposed the idea. Speaking in December 2016, he said:
“The biggest problem, basically, is there's not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment. They are the extinction-level events, things like dinosaur killers, they're 50 to 60 million years apart, essentially. You could say, of course, we're due, but it's a random course at that point.”