Potential ‘Earth-killer’ asteroid can be stopped: scientists

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 16 Agustus 2014 | 18.18

Scientists believe they are closer to working out how to stop an asteroid that could potentially wipe out Earth in 2880.

A paper published in the journal Nature by researchers at the University of Tennessee has found that blowing up the space rock, like in the movie Armageddon, could cause several collisions with the earth with devastating consequences.

They believe that the way to avoid calamity is to make changes to the surface of the asteroid in order to break it up in outer space.

The chances of the asteroid, 1950 DA, hitting Earth on March 16, 2880 is just one in 300. While the chances are small, for example, you have more chance of being shot dead in the US, scientists are not taking any risks with this one.

"Following the February 2013 asteroid impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia, there is renewed interest in figuring out how to deal with the potential hazard of an asteroid impact," Dr. Ben Rozitis, a postdoctoral researcher, told the journal Nature. "Understanding what holds these asteroids together can inform strategies to guard against future impacts."

The 1950 DA asteroid has a diameter of 3,280 feet (one kilometer) and is travelling at a speed of 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) per second. It would hit Earth at a speed of over 37,900 miles (61,000 kilometers) per hour.

The force of a collision would be like 44,800 megatons of TNT exploding and result in tsunamis and a huge change to Earth's climate.

Scientists say 1950 DA is rotating so quickly it is defying gravity and they have been puzzled as to why surface rocks aren't breaking apart from the asteroid.

"If just gravity were holding this rubble pile together, as is generally assumed, it would fly apart. Therefore, interparticle cohesive forces must be holding it together," Dr. Rozitis said.

During the meteor explosion in February 2013 an estimated 1500 people were injured, with the collision releasing more than 30 times the explosive energy of the Hiroshima bomb.

It ripped through the atmosphere at 11.8 miles (19 kilometers) per second and was equivalent to between 500,000 and 600,000 tons of TNT.

This article originally appeared on News.com.au.


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