The social media is abuzz with the news of an massive asteroid approaching the Earth with apocalypse-like scenarios becoming constructed up, producing customers go all panicky. However, the truth of the matter is no such impending disaster has been predicted by the space agencies. The asteroid named 153201 (2000 WO107) will zoom previous the Earth from a protected distance just after becoming at its closest at about 10.38 am IST on November 29.
NASA has ruled out any opportunity of a civilisation -threatening threat as such situations come about as soon as in million years. The asteroid is becoming compared to the UAE skyscraper ‘Burj Khalifa’
Size of the asteroid 153201 (2000 WO107)
This asteroid, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory web-site, was found in the year 2000. It is 800 m higher and 500 m in diameter.
The Burj Khalifa-sized asteroid is produced up of largely ice and embedded dust particles and approaches Earth when they are nudged by its gravitational pull to enter their orbit. They are classified as close to-Earth objects. It is also listed as Potentially Hazardous Asteroid primarily based on its prospective to make threatening approaches to the Earth. According to NASA any celestial object with a minimum orbit intersection distance of .05 au has been labelled as Potentially Hazardous Asteroid.
Are there any factors for concern with Asteroid 153201 (200 WO107) approaching the Earth?
This asteroid in news now will sustain a distance of more than 43 lakh km though going previous the Earth. This distance is higher than the distance among the earth and the moon, so there is no purpose to be concerned.
The Earth has millions of asteroids revolving with it in their personal orbit but of not far more than 1 meter in diameter and is therefore not regarded as to be hazardous even if they hit the planet. However, this asteroid is 500 m in diameter and the ones that can result in destruction is bigger than 30 meters. According to NASA’s close to-Earth observation Programme, the ones that are far more than 140 meters or bigger can result in higher-level devastation to their size (pretty much like a tiny football stadium). But it is also held by the agency that no such asteroid has any opportunity of hitting the Earth in the subsequent one hundred years.
However, a meteoroid, a tiny component of an asteroid or a comet, can influence the Earth as soon as in 2000 years and may possibly result in some critical harm in a distinct location exactly where it hits. Asteroids as massive as 1 km in diameter are incredibly uncommon and their probabilities of impacting the planet are even much less, like as soon as in one hundred, 000 years. The probability of comets falling and causing harm is as uncommon as as soon as in 500,000 years.
Last time such catastrophic harm occurred was 66 million years ago when a 10 km width of the asteroid, Chicxulub impactor hit the Earth and erased the dinosaur species from the planet.
Can space agencies deflect approaching asteroids?
Scientists have recommended a number of approaches of deflecting asteroid away from the Earth-like blowing up the asteroid hitting it by a spacecraft ahead of it hits the Earth. The greatest measure taken so far is the Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment in collaboration with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The mission’s target was Didymos, an asteroid that could pose a considerable threat on Earth in future. The asteroid method came closest to the Earth in November 2003 with a distance of 7.18 million km. It may possibly not come any nearer till November 2123 says space agencies.
NASA has began the building of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test that will be launched the subsequent year and slam a smaller sized asteroid of the Didymos method. ESA’s Hera will be launched in 2024 and will attain the Didymos method just after 3 years to unfold what influence a collision among DAT and an asteroid of Didymos can result in and to what extent the asteroid can adjust its trajectory to identified its probabilities of hitting the Earth.