An asteroid the size of a football field will pass close to Earth on Thursday the 17th. NASAthe celestial body must reach a distance of more than 6 million kilometers, which, although somewhat close on a cosmic scale, does not risk hitting our planet.
About 100 meters large, the asteroid 2019 XS, as it has been called US space agency, continues to travel through space at a speed of 42,000 kilometers per hour. According to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNOS), the agility of the celestial body corresponds to 13 times more than a bullet from a rifle.
Research by the Davidson Institute of Science has studied the relationship between the size of an asteroid and the possible impacts it could cause on Earth if they hit. According to the study, a celestial body of 140 meters would release an amount of energy at least a thousand times higher than that released by the atomic bomb during the Second World War.
In the case of the asteroid 2019 XS, the impacts of a possible shock could cause serious damage and destruction to the Earth, but which would not lead to the extinction of the human species.
In November, the Carnegie Institution for Science discovered an asteroid that is also approaching Earth. This is the AP7 of 2022, which is 1.5 kilometers long. “The threat is not immediate,” said Scott Sheppard, a researcher at the center responsible for the discovery. The celestial body should take five years to go around the Sun and head towards the Earth, without necessarily colliding with it.
The discovery was made using the Victor M. Blanco telescope in Chile, with the results published in the scientific journal The astronomical journal🇧🇷 According to a statement by the US research center NOIRLab, it is the “largest potentially dangerous object revealed in the last eight years”.
