Why is an Asteroid the Size of the Empire State Building Heading Towards Earth So Feared?
A potential impact of 101955 Bennu with the Earth would be more powerful than the largest nuclear weapon
In 2010, a team from Universidad de Valladolid, co-led by María Eugenia Sansaturio, warned about the threat that asteroid 101955 Bennu poses to our planet, and since then the asteroid has remained closely monitored by scientists.
Enthusiasts on the YouTube channel Destiny recently explained why the notorious asteroid 1999 RQ36 – also known as 101955 Bennu in honour of the ancient Egyptian mythological bird associated with Sun, creation and rebirth – is being so closely monitored and widely feared.
The rock is currently listed by NASA’s Sentry Earth Impact Monitoring system as having the second-highest cumulative rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale, concluding that it could potentially hit the Earth in the last quarter of the 22nd century.
“If Bennu enters the keyhole between the Earth and the Moon, it’s possible its orbit could shift, so it would likely hit the Earth”, the observers on the YouTube channel Destiny explained.The rock, which is 490 metres in diameter – approximately the height of the Empire State Building in New York – and weighs 60 million tonnes, orbits the Sun every 1.2 years and makes a close approach to our planet every six. Hurtling through space with an average orbital speed of approximately 100,000 kph, the asteroid’s distance from the Earth varies during each of these approaches.
Ten years ago, researchers from Spain’s Universidad de Valladolid, co-headed by María Eugenia Sansaturio, warned that it could hit our planet by the last quarter of the 22nd century with an impact probability of 0.00092 – an approximately one-in-a-thousand chance, which is quite significant in space terms. Although now the estimates have slightly decreased, NASA argues that the impact probability of 101955 Bennu hitting our planet in 2196 remains 0,000094, but a collision could already happen in 2175 or onwards.
A potential impact of 101955 Bennu with the Earth would release energy equivalent to approximately 1,200 megatons of TNT, while the most powerful nuclear weapon so far yielded only 55 megatons.
In order to minimise the risk, NASA sent the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to study the rock in 2016. Based on the data recorded by the expedition, which will be sent back to the Earth by 2023, experts plan to develop a protective programme against the asteroid.
Bennu was discovered in 1999 and is believed by NASA to be more than 4,5 billion years old.
With the global warming crowd saying we only have another 12 years, I think we need a back up plan in case their 12 year prediction turns out to be wrong.
How does the end of the world in 2196 sound?
Rumour has it it is made of the same material as is entombed in al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah in Mecca and is magnetically attracted to it. Of course if that is true it is Allah’s will and we must not try to interfere. But If you could choose where it will hit where would that be? Sad that none of us will be around to see how it plays out.
The way we in the west are going, they will be the dominant groups around the world. By the time it hits the earth, it won’t know where to aim for.
that’s another 150 years so guess we won’t be bothered and for those that like to be buried your remains may finish up in the heavens above.
Meanwhile Darth Vader or some other such development will arrive to sort it out.
Korea will develop a rocket to shoot it down perhaps.
A hit like that would send the world into a wobble so keep your seasick pills handy. Might even move it back to Gaia.. Make the stinking Greens happy at their own funeral pier.
Earth wiped out by one asteroid……..how boring, how mundane!
Religious nuts picking apart Revelations have promised dragons & talk about how God will deploy angels to wipe out human beings in new & ever-more-creative ways. Now it seems there’ll be no beheadings, no lake of fire, no plagues, no moon turned to blood, no rivers poisoned by God in order to kill us. No giant locusts with the tails of scorpions & the hair of women.
How pedestrian a sideswipe by an asteroid will seem after all that hype! 🙂
I almost feel disappointed nasska, that sounds all pretty awesome
No giant locusts with the tails of scorpions & the hair of women
I’m pretty sure I saw something like that on K’Road one day.
I’d imagine the moon might still get enough blood spatter on it to turn red after all
As there is more ocean than land it would likely land in the ocean and create a massive tsunami.
Would it be wise to set up a permanent colony on Mars in case earth gets hit by a massive comet or asteroid?
It would be even wiser to screen who goes to Mars there Chuck. Some of these ideas society has lately if rather not see preserved.
We will go there. It is a question of whether we set up a permanent colony.
Given all the tripe expressed on the evils of colonisation, a working party from the coalition is unlikely to have the matter sorted before 2175.
Trump has already funded a moon colony as a first step.
It’s never a coincidence that these end of world marxist nut cases start spewing out their bile when their global intentions are found out. They are in clear and present danger of being ripped to shreds and cast into the cesspit of history. EOW is another tactic that is put into play
Although I’ll be long-gone by 2175 or so, I’m convinced that even if this asteroid did hit Earth it wouldn’t be the end of humanity.
It would create a big crater on land and probably a fair-sized dust-cloud but not for long enough to cause our extinction. Landing in the sea, it’d create a huge tsunami and *that* would very likely destroy almost all coastal cities – New York, London, L.A. (plus much of Auckland and most of Wellington).
Despite such cataclysmic calamity, there would still be people in the central US, Europe, Russia, China, South America and so on.
The orbit of this asteroid is now quite accurately-known. Given that, it shouldn’t be too difficult to work out the size of a “push” needed to move it just far enough to miss us (and when the “push” should be started).
This could even be done using an “ion drive” – a technology already used in a few spacecraft which doesn’t give a very powerful push but can work for *years* at a time and is very reliable. A tiny push over a few decades would be enough.
Maybe it could even be nudged into an orbit which guarantees that it never comes near us again and instead plunges into the Sun.
You are correct. It would kill a lot of people if it hit. However by 2175 there would likely be the technology to push it in another direction.
In spite of what fraudsters like Elon Musk may tell you, we are a very long way from having the technology to establish a colony on Mars. The challenges are colossal.
Even attempts at sealed self contained colonies on earth have failed miserably and quickly.
People underestimate the problems.
Kea, the first step is a moon colony which Trump has budgeted for. There are many more experts who believe it will be started before 2050 at the latest.