![]() While the finding of 2022 AP7 may bring to mind visions of the asteroid Armageddon depicted in the film Don’t Look Up, the study also offers reassurance. It would be a mass extinction event like hasn’t been seen on Earth in millions of years,” he said. “The Earth’s surface would likely cool significantly from sunlight not getting to the planet. ![]() “Any asteroid over 1km in size is considered a planet killer,” said Sheppard, adding that should such an object strike Earth, the impact would be devastating to life as we know it, with dust and pollutants kicked up into the atmosphere, where they would linger for years. With a diameter of about 1.1km to 2.3km, the team say 2022 AP7 is the largest PHA discovered since 2014 and probably in the top 5% of the largest ever found. Bennu is one of the most hazardous known asteroids in our solar system.Writing in the Astronomical Journal, lead study author Scott Sheppard and colleagues at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington say they have found three “rather large” asteroids, one of which – 2022 AP7 – crosses the Earth’s orbit, making it a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). Thanks to a visit by a NASA spacecraft, scientists have a much greater understanding of the near-Earth asteroid, its upcoming closest approaches to Earth - and whether it could impact our planet. ![]() The data collected by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission over two yearsnallowed for precision tracking of Bennu's movements through 2300, reducing the uncertainties scientists had about the asteroid's future orbit. The findings show Bennu has a 1 in 1,750 chance of impacting Earth through 2300 - higher than previously thought. Prior to OSIRIS-REx visiting and studying Bennu, researchers thought the overall probability of Bennu impacting Earth through 2200 was 1 in 2,700.Įven though this means the odds are greater of Bennu hitting Earth in the future, the researchers don't believe the change is great enough to worry about. "It's not a significant change and the impact probability is pretty much the same," said lead study author Davide Farnocchia, a scientist at NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies. I think overall the situation has improved and I'm not any more concerned about than I was before." "We actually now have a much better knowledge of the Bennu trajectory and we can better constrain what the possible pathways to impact are. If Bennu does impact Earth, it would create a crater between 10 to 20 times its size and cause an area of devastation that could reach 100 times the size of the crater, said Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense officer.Ī study based on the findings published Wednesday in the journal Icarus. "NASA's Planetary Defense mission is to find and monitor asteroids and comets that can come near Earth and may pose a hazard to our planet," said Kelly Fast, program manager for the Near-Earth Object Observations Program at NASA headquarters in Washington, in a statement. The OSIRIS-REx mission has provided an extraordinary opportunity to refine and test these models, helping us better predict where Bennu will be when it makes its close approach to Earth more than a century from now." "We carry out this endeavor through continuing astronomical surveys that collect data to discover previously unknown objects and refine our orbital models for them. The asteroid will make its next closest approach to Earth in 2135. While Bennu won't come close enough to pose a threat to Earth then, knowing its exact trajectory can help scientists better understand how the gravity of our planet will change the asteroid's future orbit around the sun. This could also affect the chances of Bennu impacting Earth after 2135.īennu will make its most significant close approach on Sept. 24, 2182, with a 1 in 2,700 chance of impacting Earth on that day. The researchers agree that the risk of Bennu impacting Earth is low, and NASA will continue to observe the asteroid's orbit for years to come. The OSIRIS-REx mission, or Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, arrived at Bennu in December 2018 and departed earlier this year on May 10. In addition to gathering unprecedented information, the spacecraft collected a sample from the asteroid's surface that is currently heading back to Earth.
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