According to NASA, a 430-foot asteroid dubbed 1994 WR12 is expected to smash through Earth’s orbital path early next week.
NASA says that we can expect to see the asteroid in the sky between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Monday, in California.
READ MORE: Carjacking And Attempted Robbery In StocktonOn November 28, 1994, American astronomer Carolyn S. Shoemaker spotted the enormous space rock at the Palomar Observatory, which was slightly larger than an American football field.
The JPL Center for NEO Studies (CNEOS) classified it as an Earth Impact Risk until 2016 when it was removed from their Sentry List after several observations.
READ MORE: Sacramento Police Searching For Suspect Who Shot At OfficersAccording to NASA astronomers, the impact of the 1994 WR12 on Earth would produce energy equivalent to 77 megatons of TNT, making it 112 times more powerful than the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.
But don’t worry, for the time being, we’re safe. 1994 WR12 will pass Earth at a distance of 3.8 million miles on Monday.
However, a huge asteroid will collide with the Earth’s atmosphere sooner or later. Professor Alan Duffy, head of the Space Technology and Industry Institute, has some sound advice for when this happens: “Don’t look at it.”
MORE NEWS: El Dorado County Couple Opens First Cornhole Store In Northern California“I mean, it‘s going to be hard not to – the brightness of the glare from these objects burning up in the atmosphere,” said the Professor. “That‘s actually what caused a lot of the injuries in Chelyabinsk (a meteor strike in Russia in 2013), people not unreasonably looked up at this enormous burning fireball in the sky, whose brightness was essentially that of the Sun by the time it finally erupted, that caused a lot of retina damage – so make sure you’re not looking right at it.”
Science - Latest - Google News
November 29, 2021 at 06:00AM
https://ift.tt/3nZriZy
430-Foot Asteroid Expected To Pass By Earth On Monday - CBS Sacramento
Science - Latest - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Kb7H4e
https://ift.tt/3ceUkwc
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "430-Foot Asteroid Expected To Pass By Earth On Monday - CBS Sacramento"
Post a Comment