A team of scientists from the United States National Space and Aviation Administration or ‘NASA’ has revealed a prediction about the asteroid ‘Bennu’ that there is a chance that it will hit Earth in the next 159 years and may cause damage. wide area It is comparable to the size of the state of Texas. It is the second largest state in the United States, with an area of nearly 700,000 square kilometers.
The orbit of the asteroid Bennu It comes very close to Earth every six years, and a team has been set up to keep an eye on its movements since 1999, the year it was first discovered. The years when asteroid Bennu came closest to Earth were 1999, 2005, and 2011.
Image of the asteroid Bennu and the area where samples were collected.
However, the team of scientists predicts that on September 25, 2678, the asteroid will pass Earth and there is little chance of it escaping into the so-called area. Gravitational keyhole, which is a hole or point where Earth’s gravity affects the orbit of an extraterrestrial object. or may cause the orbit to deviate
The NASA team expects that if Bennu’s orbit is affected this time, It is possible that Will cause it to move along a new orbit and will collide with Earth in 2725.
A report from the team collecting data from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft states that there is a 1 in 2,700 or 0.037% chance that asteroid Bennu will hit Earth on September 24, 2725.
This asteroid is about 1/3 of a mile wide, or about 500 meters, if it hits the Earth. It would release energy equivalent to 22 atomic bombs. Yet it would be only a fraction of the energy released when a 6-mile (9.6 km) asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago and caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. all
Source: nypost.com
Photo credit: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
