NASA predicts massive asteroid affect could possibly be in Earth’s future

Associated video above is an interview with a NASA astronaut about his prolonged keep in house.

(WTAJ) — NASA scientists are predicting an opportunity that asteroid Bennu will strike Earth sooner or later, doubtlessly affecting an space the dimensions of Texas.

Bennu is a Close to-Earth Object (NEO) that passes by the planet roughly each six years, and specialists have been watching it because it was found in September 1999.

In line with scientists, Bennu has an opportunity to move by way of what they name a “gravity keyhole,” which might ship it on a collision course with Earth within the 12 months 2182.

A new paper from the OSIRIS-REx science group predicts Bennu has a 0.037% likelihood (1 in 2,700) of hitting Earth; it will largely rely on one other flyby. In 2135, Bennu will zoom previous Earth simply shut sufficient that our planet’s gravitational pull might have an effect on it in simply the appropriate strategy to put it on a path to hit us on Sept. 24, 2182 — virtually 159 years to the day from this writing.

_{Visualization depicting the 2182 Bennu-Earth flyby. Bennu’s location in 2182 will range relying on how the 2135 flyby happens. Two representations of Bennu are depicted. The white dot represents an Earth-miss and the gray dot represents an especially unlikely (1:2700 or 0.037% likelihood) Earth affect. Earth’s orbit is represented in mild blue. (Video from NASA)}

The Bennu asteroid is a 3rd of a mile large, roughly three metropolis blocks. It might have an effect on an space the dimensions of Texas by its affect. Bennu, nevertheless, continues to be far smaller than the asteroid that worn out the dinosaurs 66 million years in the past, which is claimed to have been six miles large.

Whereas a lot smaller, IFLS.com says the affect would unleash 1,200 megatons of vitality — 24 instances extra highly effective than any man-made nuclear weapon.

“We’ve by no means modeled an asteroid’s trajectory to this precision earlier than,” said Davide Farnocchia, the examine lead from the Heart for Close to-Earth Object Research.

“The OSIRIS-REx knowledge give us a lot extra exact info, we are able to check the bounds of our fashions and calculate the long run trajectory of Bennu to a really excessive diploma of certainty by way of 2135,” Farnocchia added.