Astronomers are working to identify and monitor all asteroids and meteorites that are likely to hit Earth, to explore the likelihood of a collision with our planet and when, if there is an actual threat.
NASA says more than 100 tons of rocky particles hit Earth every day, but asteroids the size of a football field only strike every 2,000 years.
Civilization-ending asteroids, like the kind that wiped out the dinosaurs, collide with Earth every few million years, and any rocks of this size are closely watched.
The rocks most likely to hit Earth, so far, are likely to burn up in the atmosphere or cause minimal damage.
NASA and other space agencies are closely monitoring “potentially hazardous asteroids”.
Initial observations of asteroids tend to be brief, and as scientists get more data, the likelihood of an impact decreases.
Here are 6 “potentially dangerous” asteroids, according to astronomers:
2023 DW
Chances of Impact: 1 in 1,584. Potential Impact Date: February 14, 2046
Experts warned this week that the 160-foot asteroid could cause an explosion similar to the Tunguska event, which uprooted more than 80 million trees.
But the odds of the rock hitting the Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046 have declined dramatically since then.
Richard Moisel, head of the European Space Agency’s Planetary Defense Office, lowered the odds of an asteroid hitting Earth from one in 784 to one in 1584.
“It will now go down with every note until it reaches zero in a couple of days at the latest. No one has to worry about this space rock,” Moisi said.
beno
Chances of impact: 1 in 2,700. Potential impact date: September 24, 2182
Bennu is slightly wider than the Empire State Building in New York, and was visited by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2020, which collected material from its surface.
Bennu is more than 4.5 billion years old, and scientists estimate it has a 1 in 2,700 chance of impacting Earth during the late 22nd century.
Professor Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona said earlier that the Bennu impact would release “three times more energy than all nuclear weapons detonated in history. The impact would release energy equivalent to 1,450 megatons of TNT.”
“For comparison, the fragmentation bombs used in World War II released energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT,” he explained.
2010RF12
Chances of impact: 1 in 10. Potential impact date: September 5, 2095
This asteroid is classified as the most likely to hit our planet in the next century, with a one in ten chance of hitting Earth, however there is no reason to panic, it is very small.
The space rock is expected to arrive shortly before the end of this century, but it is believed to be about 21 feet in diameter.
So instead of crashing to the surface, it would probably burn up in a massive blast of air in the upper atmosphere, and the only thing that would reach the ground were gravel.
1950 AD
Chances of impact: 1 in 34,000. Potential impact date: March 16, 2880
This asteroid is half a mile wide, and although it ranks among the list of dangerous asteroids, especially given its size, it won’t reach us for another eight centuries.
It was first spotted in the 1950’s, hence its name 1950 DA. It has since been observed at the turn of the millennium.
And in 2032, it will pass very close to us, at a distance of 6,959,357 miles, which will allow scientists to make more observations.
And NASA indicates that we have 35 generations to deal with this asteroid.
Toutatis
Impact Opportunities: Not available yet. Possible impact date: year 2562
This massive asteroid, three miles across, flew by Earth in 2004, traveling four times the distance from Earth to the Moon, and sparking wild predictions of doom.
NASA expects it won’t make such a close pass until the year 2562.
And NASA says: “Due to a wide range of optical and radar observations, the Toutatis orbit is one of the best-defined orbits for any asteroid and there is no chance that this body will collide with Earth during this encounter, or that any other confrontation will occur in at least five centuries.” (Russia Today)