NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has just announced that they have discovered an asteroid that will pass near the Earth on October 31. While it will zip by us at a safe distance, at approximately 280,000 miles (450,000km) away, just outside of the Moon’s orbit, the asteroid is troubling in that it was only detected on October 10, less than two weeks ago.
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The media is bursting with scare stories over asteroid 1999-FN53. It’s a kilometer wide and it’s going to make a close pass on Thursday at .68 astronomical units (AU). Will it strike Earth? Highly unlikely, NASA says. Its high speed of 30,000 mph means that it should be easily propelled past us without slowing down. If it did, it would essentially destroy civilization, leading to the death of at least a third of mankind.
It will not impact Earth on its initial pass, but only in the extremely unlikely event that it was caught by our planet’s gravity and began to orbit us. If that happened, it would eventually strike the planet. It is approximately twice the size of Mt. Everest and a strike would have devastating results.
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Speaking on Dreamland on May 9, 2014, Dr. Robert Schoch said that Planet Earth along with the rest of our solar system is entering a region of space that contains more debris than the region we have been in for the past 10,000 years. Although accurate worldwide statistics are not available, there have been an unusual number of meteor reports since, with an apparent increase in recent months. On March 15, a spectacular meteor crossed Europe, lighting up the skies over at least six countries and producing a thundering sound as it descended.read more
Earth seems to have had a number of lucky escapes recent years; several asteroids have passed uncomfortably close to our home planet, and one exploded without warning in 2013 over Chelyabinsk in Russia, causing injuries to residents and extensive damage to buildings.
Now another piece of space debris has been identified as a potential risk, as scientists reveal that a mountain-sized asteroid could be on a collision course with planet Earth.
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