Do you know it’s possible for our Mother Earth to become uninhabitable? It can happen in just one single day, if a big enough asteroid hits the Earth! And we just managed to escape one such asteroid.
Let’s get the facts first to understand what happened.
The moon is approximately 2,38,855 miles away from Earth.
On July 25, 2019, Asteroid 2019 OK passed within 45000 miles from the Earth, which is less than one-fifth of the distance to the Moon!
What’s the big deal, you may ask. Well, the last time an asteroid hit the Earth 65 million years ago, dinosaurs became extinct!
Did we not know about it before?
Not really. NASA scientists were tracking some asteroids, but it was not this one.
It was discovered by the Brazilian SONEAR survey just days ago, and its presence was announced mere hours before it zoomed past our planet. The scientists at NASA were taken by surprise with this sudden change of events. Usually, scientists are able to spot 90 percent of asteroids, which are more than a kilometer wide, but this asteroid was not spotted as it was smaller, faster, and had an unusual orbit.
Should we be worried about the future?
It just sounds like the plot of a Hollywood film, no one was aware of an upcoming danger and it hits the earth and destroys a significant part of our world (preferably say the US) Is that really possible? Experts say that it is possible, as we really don’t know how many of such asteroids are on orbits that intersect the Earth. But this episode does serve as a reminder to the real threats that these asteroids pose for us. NASA reports that it has done some training exercises on how to prepare for an impact, but there’s a strong ongoing debate for more international involvement, cooperation, and investment with regard to the detection and prevention of such scenarios.
Like this story? Read similar stories at The Learning Tree.
Charu, a feminist and an accidental writer, is yet to master the art of writing about herself. Always curious to learn new stuff, she ends up spending a lot of time unlearning the incorrect lessons. She enjoys all sorts of stories – real, fictional, new, old, hers and would love hearing yours too. Feel free to ping her at storyweavers@byjus.com to share anything that you think is worth sharing.
Comments
Gaurya Naik
June 5, 2020
Oh! My !God!????
ANIRUDH
April 24, 2020
O M G ! ☄??????
Sandesh kandhare
April 18, 2020
Thank you for this information
Akash
March 11, 2020
this fact caught my attention !???????????????
Akash
March 11, 2020
this fact caught my attention !
Akash
March 11, 2020
This was a interesting bit of information !thanks!
Satyam Chauhan
March 11, 2020
I am happy we are safe.??????
ISRO is the best????????????????
Amogh Kottada
February 27, 2020
Really interesting
Sai Vaibhav
November 6, 2019
We can escape by sitting in a big spaceship it should be big enough to load 5000 people
Yatharth Patil
October 5, 2019
Same here
Piyush umesh birajdar
October 3, 2019
How does asteroids form ?
Visvajith
September 25, 2019
Good information
Shabreen
September 24, 2019
O .m .g continue gives us so many
Information like this
Mithra
September 24, 2019
It was very informative.
Aditya ghule
September 22, 2019
Thanku for the lot information about astroid
Sourav J
September 20, 2019
OMG info!!!!!!!!????????
Likith
September 20, 2019
Very nice
ATHARV SINGH
September 17, 2019
ABOUT MY FAVORITE TOPIC – ASTRONOMY.
THANK YOU.
Aditya Jangid
September 17, 2019
This is very fantastic
Prithvi
September 16, 2019
For One second, my heart skipped a beat. Thanks to God as he saved us and our beautiful mother Earth.?????.
Best wishes to NASA for launching the space telescope.(NEOC) Near Earth object camera.???
Anuruth.R
September 16, 2019
hope you will continue giving such informations.
Anuj Kumar Gupta
September 14, 2019
How can we become an astronomer?
Akanksha
September 14, 2019
Thanks for the information
Charvi aggarwal
September 13, 2019
O.m.g ????
I ❤ harrypotter
September 12, 2019
Oh my God. Thank God we are saved! I really am scared of a fact that one asteroid hits us and we all die because I want to become an astronaut before I die!!!!!???