Jakarta –
a asteroid passed in a distance that is considered very close to Earth, which is 3,000 kilometers. Terrible, scientists detected it too late.
As quoted detikINET from the Independent, Monday (11/1/2021) the asteroid named 2021 UA1 is the third closest asteroid ever to approach this planet. It passes over Antarctica higher than the International Space Station, but lower than the satellites orbiting Earth.
Fortunately this asteroid is small, only 2 meters in diameter or about the size of a refrigerator. Had it been closer to Earth, it might have burned up in the atmosphere. But that’s not the problem.
If the asteroid was bigger and undetected and then hit the Earth, of course the consequences could be quite severe.
“The reason why his arrival was surprising is because asteroid it comes from behind the Sun, at noon, so it can’t be found at its closest distance,” said astronomer Tony Dunn.
There are only two other asteroids recorded to be closer to Earth than 2021 UA1. The first is 2020 CQ and 2020 VT4.
NASA once held a simulation of the scenario, namely what if there was an asteroid that secretly approached Earth without being caught. The only safe way is to evacuate immediately if any humans are at the point of collision.
In the latest mission to tackle the threat of asteroids, NASA made sure to immediately crash its plane into an asteroid. The mission called DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is a test from the space agency to ward off if later there are asteroids that harm the planet.
The DART aircraft will be flown on a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX on November 23, US time. As for asteroid The one that will be hit is called Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting the asteroid Dydymos which is categorized as quite close to Earth.
Watch Videos”NASA’s explanation of the possibility of an asteroid hitting the earth in the future“
[Gambas:Video 20detik]
(fyk / fay)
– .
