Doomsday: giant asteroid may hit Earth in 2880
- 10 years ago
Originally published on October 11, 2013
NASA scientists believe a giant asteroid called 1950DA could collide with Earth in the year 2880.
The 1.1-kilometre-wide asteroid travels at about 15 kilometres per second relative to Earth. The celestial rock was first discovered in February 1950. Scientists observed the asteroid for 17 days before it disappeared, only to resurface again on December 31, 2000.
Scientists now believe asteroid 1950 DA travels along a trajectory that will bring it very close to Earth on March 16, 2880.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists J.D. Giorgini, S.J. Ostro, Don Yeomans and several others from the laboratory and other institutions performed radar analysis and other research on 1950DA. They believe it has a 0.3 percent probability of colliding with the Earth.
This represents a risk 50 percent greater than the average hazard from all other known asteroid threats between now and 2880. If a collision occurs, it would slam into the Atlantic Ocean at a speed of 61,155 kilometres per hour, with a force of 44,800 megatonnes of TNT.
There are roughly 1,400 potentially hazardous asteroids that could pass close to Earth, reports indicate.
NASA tracks all 1,400 potentially hazardous asteroids identified so far, forecasting their future close approaches and impact probabilities.
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NASA scientists believe a giant asteroid called 1950DA could collide with Earth in the year 2880.
The 1.1-kilometre-wide asteroid travels at about 15 kilometres per second relative to Earth. The celestial rock was first discovered in February 1950. Scientists observed the asteroid for 17 days before it disappeared, only to resurface again on December 31, 2000.
Scientists now believe asteroid 1950 DA travels along a trajectory that will bring it very close to Earth on March 16, 2880.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists J.D. Giorgini, S.J. Ostro, Don Yeomans and several others from the laboratory and other institutions performed radar analysis and other research on 1950DA. They believe it has a 0.3 percent probability of colliding with the Earth.
This represents a risk 50 percent greater than the average hazard from all other known asteroid threats between now and 2880. If a collision occurs, it would slam into the Atlantic Ocean at a speed of 61,155 kilometres per hour, with a force of 44,800 megatonnes of TNT.
There are roughly 1,400 potentially hazardous asteroids that could pass close to Earth, reports indicate.
NASA tracks all 1,400 potentially hazardous asteroids identified so far, forecasting their future close approaches and impact probabilities.
TomoNews is your daily source for top animated news. We've combined animation and video footage with a snarky personality to bring you the biggest and best stories from around the world.
For news that's fun and never boring, visit our channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TomoNewsUS
Subscribe to stay updated on all the top stories:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=TomoNewsUS
Stay connected with us here:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS
Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS
Google+ http://gplus.to/TomoNewsUS