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New asteroid could hit earth in 2040
Thursday March 01, 2012 08:24:31 AM,
IANS
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London: A new
asteroid, identified by NASA, could potentially hit the earth Feb
5, 2040, even though it is much smaller than the one -- nine miles
across -- which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
The UN Action Team on near-Earth objects, which has taken note of
the 460-ft asteroid, placed the odds of its hitting the earth at
one-in-625, though that could change nearer the time.
Scientists have not yet been able to work out much more about it
than its size as they have only been able to observe it for half
its orbit. But between 2013 and 2016 they will be able to monitor
from the ground and will make a more detailed assessment.
In 2023 the rock will make a 'keyhole pass' of Earth, which is an
area it passes through on the orbit before it would hit Earth.
This will be within a mere 0.02 astronomical units of our planet,
or 1.86 million miles, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.
NASA's infrared sky-scans track space objects such as asteroids. A
recent scan with the NeoWISE instruments found that there were
19,000 'mid-sized' asteroids within 120 million miles of Earth,
the Daily Mail reports.
According to NASA, among the ways of deflecting it are putting a
probe onto the rock and using the extra gravity the craft
generates to steer the asteroid away over millions of light years.
Another option would be sending a probe into it so that the impact
has the same effect.
Nuclear weapons have also been discussed, but this would create a
shower of rocks instead of just one.
Mid-sized refers to asteroids in a size range between 330 and
3,300 feet wide, which could destroy a city-sized area were they
to hit Earth.
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Picture of the Day |
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Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
presenting a memento to the President of Rotary International
Kalyan Banerjee at the inauguration of the Polio Summit 2012,
in New Delhi on February 25, 2012. Union Minister for Health
and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad and Minister of State for
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