EIn the last hours, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has reported that an asteroid will pass very close to Earth. Alarming news, although the truth is that there are always important nuances. When talking about distance in outer space, you have to contextualize the data. This asteroid, the size of Torre Eiffelwould approach our planet in 2029.
According to the calculations of Russian scientists, the object would pass at about 39,000 kilometers from Earth. Although it may seem like an exaggeratedly far distance, the Moon orbits at more than 350,000 kilometers. Furthermore, another of the interesting notes is that the asteroid would have a power similar to 30 nuclear bombs similar to the well-known Zarthe largest that has been detonated since the creation of this weapon.
The name chosen for this asteroid will be Apophiswhose origin comes from the Egyptian word Apep, whose meaning is personification of chaos. A term that does not accompany, like the date: everything seems to indicate that the object would spend a Friday the 13th. According to the estimated data, more than 2 billion people They could see it with the naked eye without the need for binoculars.
The percentage of an asteroid falling to Earth is 0.00089%
However, NASA has not shown concern, rather a pleasant surprise at this event that will occur in five years. From the North American agency they consider that this will be a great opportunity to study the object thanks to the instruments it has, as well as for the ESA (European Space Agency). Although there is always this fear of bodies falling from space, The figure for something like this to happen is one in 150,000 (0.00089%).
The objective now of NASA, in a mission whose name will be Osiris-APEXit will be that of “quantifying Earth’s tidal forces on a potentially dangerous asteroid” from capturing “live images, never seen before, of the asteroid’s surface with our planet in the background.”
