430-Foot Asteroid to Pass by Earth Next Week, But Experts Claim There's No Need to Worry

A 430-foot asteroid called 1994 WR12 is scheduled to pass into Earth's orbital path early next week, according to NASA.

According to NASA, the asteroid will be visible in the sky between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. In California.

Carolyn S. Shoemaker, an American astronomer, discovered the massive space rock on November 28, 1994, at the Palomar Observatory, somewhat larger than an American football field.

It was listed as an Earth Impact Risk by the JPL Center for NEO Studies (CNEOS) until 2016 when removed from their Sentry List after many sightings.

The impact of the 1994 WR12 on Earth, according to NASA scientists, would release energy equivalent to 77 megatons of TNT, making it 112 times more potent than the Tsar Bomba, the world's greatest nuclear weapon.

But don't worry, we're safe for the time being. On Monday, the 1994 WR12 spacecraft will fly by Earth at a distance of 3.8 million miles.

However, sooner or later, a massive asteroid will smash the Earth's atmosphere. When this happens, Professor Alan Duffy of the Space Technology and Industry Institute offers some sensible advice: "Don't stare at it."

"I mean, the brilliance of the glare from these objects burning up in the sky is going to make it difficult not to," the Professor remarked. "That's actually what caused a lot of the injuries in Chelyabinsk (a meteor strike in Russia in 2013), people looking up at this enormous burning fireball in the sky, whose brightness was essentially that of the Sun by the time it finally erupted, causing a lot of retina damage - so make sure you're not looking right at it."

Related Article: Experts Wants US to Increase Planetary Defense Against a Potential Asteroid Threat

NEO Collision

The ways near-Earth objects (NEOs) on a probable collision track with Earth may be deflected away, averting disastrous impact occurrences, are referred to as asteroid impact avoidance.

A sufficiently big asteroid or other NEO impact would result in catastrophic tsunamis or numerous firestorms, as well as an impact winter produced by the sunlight-blocking effect of large amounts of pulverized rock dust and other debris, pushed into the stratosphere, depending on the impact location.

The Chicxulub crater is estimated to have formed 66 million years ago when the Earth collided with an object about 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide. This impact is supposed to have initiated the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, which is thought to have wiped off most dinosaurs.

Likelihood

While the likelihood of a significant collision in the near future is minimal, it is almost guaranteed that one will occur soon unless defensive measures are adopted.

Recent astronomical occurrences, such as the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts on Jupiter and the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor, have re-ignited interest in such risks, as has the expanding number of items on the Sentry Risk Table.

Also Read: NASA Plans to Deflect Asteroids to Defend the Planet from Cosmic Disaster

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