NASA has come out with a rather shocking revelation that our beloved planet lies on the path of a shooting gallery of comets and asteroids that could signal the end of life as we know it
Studies have shown that Asteroids large enough to end human existence lie within space and NASA is still yet to discover all of them. This situation was made public recently via the podcast of NASA by Leslie Mullen the host. The Host of the On a Mission podcast used the platform to talk about the threats these asteroids pose.
During the October 8th episode of the program, attention was drawn to the impacts of asteroids as well as the ability of NASA to identify them beforehand.
In a chat with the guest on the podcast Greg Leonard an astronomer, the host indicated NASA’s position that there were no known immediate risks.
However, the aforementioned position does not eliminate the possibility of certain asteroids lurking around with the risk of destroying planet earth.
According to Ms. Mullen, what we see in movies such as Armageddon shows a large asteroid slamming itself against the earth thus causing carnage.
The fact is that large rocks falling with high velocities from the sky could lay waste to a whole town, country and even the entire earth.
The doomsday headlines do not look like soft-pedaling anytime soon with headlines suggesting that asteroids were coming closer to the earth to further encourage people’s paranoia.
One however true thing the fact is that planet earth lies at the center of this cosmic shooting gallery.
It is not breaking the news that asteroids come around and collide with the earth each day with several tonners of small rocks and dust grains.
History reminds of the space rock which collided with planet earth about 66 million years away from this ending about a third of earth as it was then known.
Studies indicate that this 10km measuring asteroid leads to a nuclear winter which signaled the end of the dinosaur dominance of the earth.
However, since that era until now, several smaller asteroids have impacted the earth.
A typical recent example of the impact of asteroids is the situation that occurred in the Chelyabinsk Oblast area of Russia where a 20-meter wide asteroid exploded mid-air.
This blast leads to a shockwave that shattered windows into pieces and even fell several people according to Ms. Mullen. That singular occasion witnessed about 1,500 injured persons.
In the words of Ms. Mullen: “the smaller rocks that come from space seldom do much damage, the real danger comes from the big ones”
Even though there are currently asteroids out there capable of causing carnage to planet earth, none of them seems headed out path. However, that doesn’t mean we should start celebrating yet as we have not found them all.
One good thing about planet earth is that our atmosphere is so strong that any rock that measures 25 meters across should burn before it gets to the ground.
However, the Chelyabinsk incident shows that we are not altogether safe. According to Mr. Leonard an astronomer, the Chelyabinsk asteroid measured about 20 meters.
That can be termed as small when compared with what scientists are on the lookout for and yet it produced such telling effect.
That singular incident has helped in widening the focus of search as even smaller asteroids are not been scouted for.
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