It is 90 meters in diameter, travels at a speed of 46,800 kilometers per hour and would strike with a force a hundred times stronger than the atomic bomb in Hiroshima – so the asteroid that is on the way to the earth is described and which ended up at the top of Nasa and ESA’s list of external threats to our planet. It says experts who Daily Mail Talked to.
The asteroid, which can be as great as the tower in Pisa, has been named 2024 YR4. But it goes by the nickname “The big city enchanter”, simply because it could wipe out an entire city.
“If it comes above Paris, London or New York, you extend pretty much the entire city and a large part of its surroundings,” Bruce Betts, chief researcher at the Space Organization Planetary Society, told AFP.
The risk of a hit with the earth doubled
It is estimated that 2024 YR4 will pass the land in 2028. The risk of a collision, which would take place in 2032, has been estimated at one percent.
But the NASA Center for Studies of Objects near the Earth, Cneos, has estimated the risk to 2.3 percent, ie one at 43. Thus, the risk has more than doubled compared to before, according to Independent.
Eric Stempels is a researcher at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Uppsala University. He believes that the risk that 2024 YR4 will hit the earth may increase even more in the future, although in the end it turns out that there will be no collision at all. Rather, one should see the figure as a sign that the researchers are knowing the asteroid’s course better.
– It’s like putting a coffee cup in a circle and then you reduce the circle. As long as the coffee cup remains in the circle, the risk increases. As you reduce the circle more, the coffee cup may disappear completely from it, says Eric Stempels.
So you can change an asteroid’s path through space
The risk of the asteroid hit the earth is small and if it does, you will be able to figure out where the impact should take place and be able to evacuate people. You can also try to change the asteroid’s paths through space. It can be about making a small change on the asteroid, which after a number of years has greater consequences.
– You can collide a small vehicle with an asteroid on the side and try to influence the direction. You can have an explosion nearby that can affect. You can paint one side of the asteroid white, which affects how much heat it radiates and causes it to absorb sunlight in different ways. It can affect the track.
At the same time, it is important not to make too large differences in the track through violent methods.
– You have to be very careful about the more destructive ways. That you do not redo an object with known path to many objects with unknown paths.
Many afraid: “I’m eleven years old, I don’t want to die”
Johan Marcopoulos, communications manager at the Space Agency, has also heard of the different ways to change the asteroid’s path. Researchers like The Sun Talked to say that you can try to blow up or split the asteroid using spaceships, nuclear weapons or sun -powered laser beams if it turns out that it will hit the earth.
– It’s Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler in the movie Armageddon, says Johan Marcopoulos.
In his job he meets a lot of people who are afraid of space and Johan Marcopoulos thinks it is important to point out that you do not have to worry.
– I have met children who say: I am eleven years old, I do not want to die, says Johan Marcopoulos, and adds:
– You don’t have to feel scared. There is a lot of other things that are much more dangerous. Today maybe you should wear your scouts.