A Large Asteroid Could Hit the Earth in 2032

A large Asteroid called 2013 TV135 with an estimated size of about 400 metres and force equivalent to 2500 nuclear bombs could hit the earth on August 2032 according to Ukrainian astronomers at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in the Ukraine. However, NASA has issued a reality check saying that the probability of an impact is only 1 in 63000.

[Image from NASA, Click to Enlarge]

This means that the probability of the Asteroid not impacting the earth is 99.998%, which is quite huge. However, this discovery is significant because of the 10,332 near-Earth objects being tracked by scientists as of October 14, the 2013 TV135 is the second most dangerous.

The most dangerous is a smaller Asteroid called 2007 VK184 about 128 metres wide with a probability of 1 in 2700 of hitting the earth in 2048. For comparison, the Asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago was about 9.6 km (9800 metres) wide.

This means that both the 2007 VK184 and the 2013 TV135 cant destroy mankind, but it would be catastrophic where they to hit a densely populated area.

However, Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. said “This is a relatively new discovery. With more observations, I fully expect we will be able to significantly reduce, or rule out entirely, any impact probability for the foreseeable future.”

This means that this is not the last we will be hearing of the Asteroid.

You can visit the NASA website to read the reality check.

A Large Asteroid Could Hit the Earth in 2032 was last modified: April 24th, 2016by Paschal Okafor