What will happen when an asteroid will strike Earth? Logic based answer
New Delhi : You must have seen the amount of devastation caused to Earth when an asteroid strikes the planet in a Hollywood movie. But, reel and real life are very much different. Dr. Kelly Fast, the planetary defense expert and a manager of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has been quoted explaining the real life scenarios when it comes to collision of asteroid with the Earth.
A Hindustan Times report quoted Dr Kelly Fast as saying, "Yes, asteroids have hit Earth over the course of its history, and it will happen again." She also explained that meteors keep on colliding with Earth all the time; ever noticed shooting stars in the skies, these are those meteors. Since they are very small in size they are not harmful.
"But impacts of asteroids that affect the surface are much rarer and happen on time scales of hundreds to thousands to millions of years," Dr. Fast said about the impact of asteroids colliding with the Earth's surface. According to the space agency NASA, small size asteroids can be detected passing towards Earth several times a month. Meteoroids, which are very small pieces of an asteroid and comets are usually less than 3 feet in size and they can hit and explode in the atmosphere of the Earth. In fact, it happens almost every day.
Dr. Fast emphasized that current need is to identify asteroids which can be harmful for Earth. If they are identified in time then steps can be taken to decrease the overall damage it may cause.
Recently, NASA had said that they are planning to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid to check how a defense system can be made against asteroids which may be harmful for planet Earth.
Next upcoming Asteroid that are approaching
1. 3361 Orpheus (1982 HR), the 1600 ft size with the closets earth approach of 3,580,000 KM
2. 2021 VW5 named asteroid of the approximate size of 53 Feet expected with the closest earth approach 3,720,000 km
3. The 2021 VQ26 named airplane-sized asteroid with the approximate size of 170 feet is expected to come near Earth with 1,100,000 on November 22.
There is nothing to worry about these asteroids as they pose no threat on Earth.
