Is it the end | Mountain-sized asteroid passed by earth

Is it the end | Mountain-sized asteroid passed by earth | How can asteroids harm earth in future | Is any asteroid going to collide with earth?

On 27^th of June, 2024 a giant planet killer asteroid passed earth very closely, it was Asteroid 2011 UL21. The distance of this asteroid was approx. the distance of earth and moon. It was at the speed of 58,000 mph or 93000 km/h. and it was labelled as “Potentially Hazardous” (a near-earth object that can be either an asteroid or a comet) by space agencies.

It is known as mountain-sized asteroid, just imagine how large it would be because it is larger than almost all the asteroids present in the earth’s proximity. Its size can be 1.1 miles (1.7 kilometers) to 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers).

Although it didn’t hit the earth, but if it collided it would be less extreme than the historic collisions but still it has the ability to cause damage on a continental scale and can cause significant climate changes. That is why it is called a planet killer.

Now let’s talk about some facts related to asteroids.

Well first let’s understand what asteroids are!

Asteroids are basically small rocks in space which orbit the sun just like planets do, even though they’re much smaller than planets.

Well now let’s learn that “Where did asteroids come from?”

Simply asteroids are the leftovers from the formation of our solar system.

When our solar system was formed around 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of dust which then converted into Sun and planets but some of the objects never had the chance to become a planet and that leftover became asteroids.

One more question comes that Are asteroids different?

Yes, asteroids have different types. Consider that all the asteroids were formed at different distances from the sun. It means that they weren’t formed at a single place.

Some of the differences between asteroids are as follow:

1.   Asteroids are of different sizes. Some are too big and some are small like pebbles.

2.   They don’t have a same shape means that they are not fixed to be round, they have non-uniform shapes.

3.   They are made up of different kinds of rocks.

But asteroids can be informative!

As you know now that asteroids were formed at the same time when other objects like planets were formed in our solar system. These asteroids can give us lots of information related to our planets’ and sun’s history. Scientists have learned a lot and can learn a lot by studying the meteorites (these are the small pieces of asteroids that have landed on earth’s surface by crossing the atmosphere.

Is any asteroid going to hit earth in near future?

Well, an asteroid named Apophis will make a very close approach to earth. There are not any chances that it will hit earth. But Apophis will make such a close approach that it could be seen by naked eyes.

FAQs.

Well if we’re talking about asteroids so surely a question comes which asteroid killed the dinosaurs?

The asteroid that killed dinosaurs was chicxulub.

How likely is a planet killer asteroid?

Well if we talk about an asteroid slamming into the earth, so there are no chances of an asteroid to slam into the earth at least for the next 1000 years.

How can a planet killer be seen?

A planet killer can be seen through an adequate telescope.

What is an asteroid belt?

An asteroid belt is a region of space found between the orbits of two planets Mars and Jupiter.

Will a killer asteroid hit earth in our life time?

Well, to end the complete life on earth an asteroid should be almost 1 km or more in diameter but such bodies/asteroids hit our earth once every 100,000 years on an average. So it means that they are almost rare.

However there’s a day called the Asteroid Day, every year on 30^th June. This event is known because of an asteroid known as Tunguska Asteroid. It was about the size of a football field when exploded almost 5-10 km above a forest in Siberia, Russia, luckily that forest was remote. This event took place on 30^th June 1908.