There is a film with the theme that the Earth may face the last day due to a planetary collision.
We are talking about “Planetary Collision: The Last Days on Earth”, released in February. Recently, American astronomers An asteroid large enough to destroy a planet has been discoveredannounced that it This asteroid is in the distant future It is estimated to exceed Earth’s orbit in thousands of yearsdone. Maybe the movie story will come true.
A research team from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, USA, has discovered three giant near-Earth asteroids and published the results in the international journal “Astronomical Journal”.
of discovered asteroids The asteroid predicted to approach Earth is “2022 AP7” and is classified as a “Potential Threat Asteroid (PHA)” with a high probability of collision with Earth.Do. The 2022 AP7 ranges from 1.1 km to 2.3 km in diameter. This is the largest PHA discovered since 2014 and a colossal size that ranks in the top 5% of observed PHA in the history of astronomical observations.
According to Scott Sheppard, a senior research scientist at the Carnegie Institute for Science, asteroids with a diameter greater than 1 kilometer are considered planet-destroying asteroids. When a huge asteroid collides with Earth, dust and pollutants rise into the atmosphere and persist for years, making it difficult for life to survive.
Scott Shepard said:The earth’s surface will be severely cooled as sunlight will not reach the earth.to be. There could be mass extinctions that have not been seen for millions of years.”
While 2022 AP7 is an asteroid that will pose a major threat to Earth, researchers believe there’s no need to worry right away. “2022 AP7 will slowly cross Earth’s orbit, but this it will be centuries laterhe said.
“We also don’t exactly know enough about the orbit of 2022 AP7 to say much about the risks in the centuries to come,” he added.
NASA is developing a way to alter an asteroid’s trajectory to prevent it from colliding with Earth. In September, NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid approaching Earth. Escape the asteroid from orbit to EarthShiki successfully completed the Dart mission.
The darts are supposed to be used to protect the earth from space objects approaching the earth in the future. However, it’s not yet clear whether the dart-like method will be effective at handling an asteroid as large as 2022 AP7.
Jay Tate, director of the National Near Earth Objects Information Center in Wales, said:Given the size of the AP7 2022, a dart-like method may not be suitable.“But we have plenty of time. By hitting the asteroid several times with darts, it is possible to slightly change its trajectory ».
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