Evidence: Arabic
The US international agency revealed the possible date after NASA earlier predicted that a “missing” asteroid would hit Earth this year and wipe out human life there.
The space rock, named 2007 FT3, was discovered 16 years ago and officially dubbed the “lost asteroid.” It has been observed for a long time by scientists to determine its orbit and possible points at which it could strike our planet.
British newspaper “Mirror” reported that NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has identified 89 potential impacts between October 3, 2024 and October 4, 2119.
Fortunately, the probability of 2007 FT3 colliding with us is about 1 in 11.5 million.
Its size seems intimidating
For his part, a NASA spokesperson told the Standard: “There are no threats of asteroid impacts on Earth anytime in the next century.”
He continued: “Planetary scientists define approaches by asteroids that come within 30 million miles (about 45 million km) of Earth's orbit as close approaches, and the larger the asteroid, the easier it is for planetary defense experts to detect. That, meaning its orbits around the Sun” are usually years. or have been well known and understood for decades.”
Although the asteroid weighs 54 million tons and its estimated height is an intimidating 1,030 feet (314 meters), it is small by cosmological standards.
He wiped out the dinosaurs
Experts believe that the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was about 12 km wide, weighed nearly a trillion tons, and hit at about 45,000 miles per hour (about 72,000 km/h). The power of the explosion reached about 10 billion atomic bombs.
It is also believed to have made landfall 24 miles (38 km) off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The resulting crater is 115 miles (185 km) wide and 20 miles (32 km) deep, half of which is underwater and the rest covered by rainforest.
Space rock
This space rock played a major role in the extinction of the Cretaceous and Paleogene eras, which wiped out nearly three-quarters of plant and animal species, including the largest land animals. Some were burned alive or drowned, but most died of starvation.
The asteroid had global effects, injecting large amounts of dust, sulfur and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The dust and sulfur formed a cloud that reflected sunlight and significantly lowered the Earth's temperature.
“NASA and its partners are diligently scanning the skies to discover, track, and classify asteroids and near-Earth objects (NEOs) that could approach Earth.”
