Whether we like it or not, we have to add the space rock designated ‘2013 BO76’ to the long list of asteroids that if they ever hit Earth, the consequences would be catastrophic for our planet. NASA itself informed about the approach of 2013 BO76, and it passed by our planet on Thursday, as The Sun reveals.
The asteroid in question measured 450 meters across, meaning enough to be considered a major threat if it had “planet Earth” written on it. By comparison, the Chicxulub impactor that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago measured somewhere between 11 and 81 kilometers in its diameter.
Hurtling through space at 30,000mph
The 2013 BO76 asteroid was flying through space at huge speed: somewhere around 30,000mph. The faster a space rock travels, the hardest an impact will be. This happens due to gravitational acceleration.
NASA is constantly keeping an eye on the space surrounding our planet in its search for asteroids and comets that could pose a major threat. The space agency seems to have done a pretty good job until now.
Comet Swift-Tuttle is one of those space rocks that could pose a major threat to us all, as it’s even larger than the dinosaur-killing asteroid. Although there is a theoretical chance that the comet might hit Earth in the far future, the chance remains practically nonexistent. The comet is also known as 109P/Swift–Tuttle, and it measures 16 miles wide.
Paul Chodas from NASA stated as speaking for Space.com:
Its orbit passes very close to the Earth’s orbit so that it has been viewed as a hazardous object over the years,
Now, we know its orbit very well, well enough to say that we are safe from an impact for many thousands of years.
For the moment, there’s no information about any huge and dangerous space rock that’s about to hit our planet.
