A NASA study says asteroid ‘Bennu’, classified as “potentially hazardous”, has a slight chance of hitting the Earth but it’s unlikely to take place until the 2100s. The asteroid is 500 metres wide, a bit wider than the Empire State Building is tall. Scientists said there was a 1-in-1,750 chance that it could collide with Earth between now and 2300.
House company Nasa earlier this week mentioned that an asteroid named Bennu, which is as giant because the Empire State Constructing in New York, might hit the Earth.
Nevertheless, if one is studying this data, neither they or their grandchildren have any cause to fret as this occasion is unlikely to occur until the 2100s. The chance of the asteroid Bennu hitting earth between now and 2300 is one in 1,750, in line with a report by the New York Occasions.
Scientist Davide Farnocchiaa, who authored the research together with 17 different scientists, on the hazard evaluation for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu, informed the New York Occasions that the chance of the affect continues to be low. “I’m not any extra involved about Bennu than I used to be earlier than. The affect chance stays actually small,” Farnocchiaa was quoted as saying by the information company. The research titled Ephemeris and hazard evaluation for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu primarily based on OSIRIS-REx knowledge tracked the asteroid’s trajectory.
How shut will Bennu come?
The asteroid will come inside 125,000 miles of the Earth by the 12 months 2135, which is about half the space from the Earth to the moon.
Scientists say that the precise distance is essential right here as a result of the gravity of the Earth will ‘slingshot Bennu’ because it passes. They cited a phenomenon referred to as ‘gravitational keyhole’ which might ship Bennu in a selected trajectory because of which it might intersect with the Earth 50 years after 2135. A video by NASA’s Goddard reveals how shut Bennu would come within the September of 2135.
Possibilities of devastation greater
However the eventful day might be September 24, 2182 however scientists say that there’s solely a 0.037% probability that Bennu will strike the Earth. They’ve additionally assured that it’s going to not result in an extinction occasion however the devastation might be huge. Lindley Johnson, who works as a planetary protection officer at Nasa, mentioned that the scale of the crater will likely be 10 to twenty occasions the scale of the thing.
“So, a half-kilometre-sized object goes to create a crater that’s not less than 5 kilometres in diameter, and it may be as a lot as 10 kilometres in diameter. However the space of devastation goes to be a lot, a lot broader than that, as a lot as 100 occasions the scale of the crater,” Lindsey was quoted as saying by the NYT.
Nasa can be engaged on a undertaking referred to as the Double Asteroid Redirection Take a look at, which goals to deflect an asteroid if it seems to collide with the Earth. The house company will conduct the experiment with an asteroid referred to as Didymos in 2022.
OSIRIS-REx’s analysis on Bennu
The report additionally highlighted that the trajectory of the asteroid is exactly recognized because of knowledge tracked by the OSIRIS-REx mission. The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx studied Bennu for the final two years very carefully, in line with Nasa. It left Bennu in Could this 12 months and is heading again to Earth to drop off the rock and grime samples it has collected from Bennu’s floor.
The OSIRIX-REx selected Bennu due to the varieties of carbon molecules current within the asteroid, which might present data concerning the ‘constructing blocks of life on Earth’.
