Unfortunately for all of us, space agencies cannot monitor the whole sky for cosmic threats. The asteroid that has shaken up the Chelyabinsk city from Russia back in 2013 wasn’t detected by any of the Earth’s sophisticated scientific tools, and that’s a huge hint that humanity is not prepared for any dangerous space rock that wanders close enough to our planet.
Many scientists believe that a second Chicxulub impactor will end all life forms on Earth someday, just the way it happened during the era of the dinosaurs. All life forms were wiped out about 60 million years ago due to both the collision and the huge amount of dust and ashes that stopped the sunlight for hundreds of years.
Asteroid 2020 ND is approaching fast
NASA issued a new warning about a large asteroid that will reach its closest point towards Earth in less than a week: on July 24. Luckily enough, there’s no reason to worry, as the 2020 ND asteroid will safely avoid our planet. The cosmic object has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) by NASA, as it could create some significant damage to our planet if it hits.
The new asteroid measures 160 metres or 520 feet in diameter, which means that it can surely destroy a whole city. In order to pose a threat to the totality of life on Earth, a space rock has to measure at least two kilometers in diameter. For instance, the Chicxulub impactor that wiped out the dinosaurs after hitting today’s Yucatan peninsula from Mexico had a huge diameter between 11 to 81 kilometers. Its aftermath is a crater buried underneath the surface that measures 150 km for its diameter. The center is located offshore in the proximity of the Mexican town of Chicxulub, after which the crater was named.
It looks like humanity still has plenty of time to wait until it tests its advanced ‘toys’ for deflecting or destroying any asteroid that could harm our planet. Hopefully, scientists have plenty of time to come up with the best ideas possible.
