2023-09-26 16:00:00
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Millions of years ago, the impact of a huge asteroid changed the Earth irrevocably, eventually causing the extinction of the dinosaurs and generating a large number of changes on the planet’s surface. What if a new asteroid collided with Earth? Could we stop it before impact? A new NASA study titled “Ephemeris and hazard assessment for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu based on OSIRIS-REx data“He calculated the asteroid’s trajectory years ago with an extraordinary level of accuracy. And, according to the data, it seems that there is no need to worry too much either.
Thanks to the spaceship Originshave managed to carry out more precise monitoring with the aim of better understanding the movements of this potentially dangerous asteroid until the year 2300 and thus reduce the uncertainty about a possible collision.
Exactly, Until the year 2300, the possibility that the asteroid Bennu will collide with Earth is, in any case, less than 1%. The point of maximum risk of collision in a single day will occur on September 24, 2182, a day on which the probability will be 0.037%.
Investigate to avoid disaster
In the words of the scientist Kelly Fast, responsible for the Near-Earth Object Observation Program, “NASA’s Planetary Defense mission is to find and monitor asteroids and comets that may approach Earth and may represent a danger to our planet.” In relation to the asteroid Bennu, the specialist explained that “we carry out continuous astronomical studies that collect data to discover previously unknown objects and refine our orbital models. “The OSIRIS-REx mission has provided an extraordinary opportunity to fine-tune and test these models, helping us better predict where Bennu will be when it approaches Earth more than a century from now.”
Precisely OSIRIS-RExbefore separating from Bennu on May 10, 2021, spent more than two years very close to the asteroid, collecting information on its size, shape, mass, and composition while analyzing its spin and orbital path, as well as showing them. of rock and dust from the surface of the asteroid that have reached Earth in September 2023.
The biggest problem for scientists is knowing the so-called “gravitational keyholes” (gravitational keyhole in English), that is, regions of space where the gravity of a planet alters the orbit of an asteroid. In this regard, “now we only have two gravitational keyholes of more than a kilometer that we must consider” he points out. Davide Farnocchialeader of the research and belonging to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, dependent on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“We had never before modeled the trajectory of an asteroid with this precision,” Farnocchia himself explained. And the truth is that it is reassuring to know that no asteroid will impact the Earth in the coming years.
A meteorite exploded in the atmosphere of Antarctica 430,000 years ago
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