NASA has highlighted a photo showing the orbits of more than a thousand potentially dangerous asteroids. None of them will hit the Earth in the next 100 years.
The photo highlighted by NASA this Friday (30) shows the orbits of more than a thousand potentially dangerous asteroids (PHA) known. They have received this classification because they measure at least 140 m in diameter and have orbits that bring them within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth.
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PHAs are asteroids that are part of a larger group of so-called near-Earth objects. These objects are comets and asteroids which, along their orbits, are up to 50 million kilometers away from our planet. PHAs are NEOs that, if they hit Earth, would cause significant problems here.
Through observations of these objects, scientists can predict asteroids’ orbital changes more accurately. This is how they predict where the object will be in the future, whether it’s a few years or decades from now – and, of course, if it will endanger our planet at some point.
While these asteroids are considered potentially hazardous, the title doesn’t mean they necessarily will be crash to earth, but rather that they have the potential to do so. The orbits of the PHAs have already been calculated and show that none of them will hit us in the next 100 years.
Can asteroids hit the Earth?
Larger asteroids (such as those larger than 1km in diameter) are capable of causing extinction events on Earth if they impact our planet. The good news is that they’re relatively rare, causing impacts every 500,000 years or so.
Even the smallest asteroids, up to 1 km in diameter, can cause problems. They are numerous and, although they are not capable of causing the extinction of an entire civilization, they could devastate cities or even cause highly destructive phenomena, such as forts tsunami.
While investigating planetary defense strategies, NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, sending a probe to collide with the asteroid Dimorphos. The data obtained showed that she successfully altered its orbit.
Source: APOD
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Source: Terra
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