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Slides of an asteroid dubbed ‘The Rock’ that has come perilously close to Earth. Picture: NASA/AFP
NASA has released stunning images of a massive asteroid that has flown perilously close to Earth.
The peanut-shaped asteroid dubbed 2014-JO25, nicknamed ‘The Rock’, is 1300m across and streaked past the earth last night giving astronomers a rare chance to check out a big space rock up close.
It hurtled past at around 117,482km/h just over 1.6 million km away — uncomfortably close in astronomical terms.
It came closest to Earth at 10.20pm AEST last night
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Slides of an asteroid dubbed ‘The Rock’ that has come perilously close to Earth. Picture: NASA/AFPSource:AFP
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It is a binary asteroid, which means it is made of two rocks that were originally separate bodies. Astronomers believe the asteroid could even be bigger than the Rock of Gibraltar which is 426m high.
No other asteroid of comparable size has come this close to the Earth in the past 13 years.
The impact of the asteroid hitting the Earth would unleash as much energy as about 1000 atomic bombs the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
It would completely destroy a city the size of London or New York and cause extensive damage for hundreds of kilometres.
Scientists first learned of ‘The Rock’ three years ago when it was spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey, a US program that uses two telescopes in Arizona to detect potentially dangerous near-Earth objects (NEOs).
While not big enough to cause an extinction level event, the effect of an object the size of ‘The Rock’ hitting the Earth could be catastrophic on a regional scale.
Scientists at the University of Colorado have calculated it would take a 97km-wide object to obliterate the human race.
Astronomers believe they know about 90 per cent of potentially hazardous asteroids bigger than 1000m across.
Smaller objects that are still large enough to cause a huge amount of destruction are a more worrying problem.
Only 30 per cent of 140m-sized NEOs have been detected and less than 1 per cent of those in the 30m range.
Even a 30m-wide asteroid could cause significant damage. The asteroid that is thought to have killed off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was between 10km and 13km across.
We obtained radar images of an asteroid that will safely fly by Earth tomorrow. Learn more: https://t.co/LX36CeU5ac pic.twitter.com/9EC72CfZYt
— NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2017
The Earth’s last close shave with an asteroid came in September 2004.
The 5km wide asteroid Toutatis came within 1.55 million km — just over four lunar distances — of the Earth.
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The asteroid Toutatis came within four lunar distances of the Earth in 2004.Source:News Corp Australia
Robotic telescope service Slooh, which allows people to view space through a telescope online, is tracking the asteroid.
A Slooh spokesman said: ‘The Rock’s close approach … is an alarming reminder of just how close these destructive chunks of space debris come to Earth.’
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The rock is now hurtling away from the centre of our solar system, said Ian Carnelli, an astronomer from the European Space Agency (ESA).
“It does not represent a danger to our planet,” Carnelli told AFP.
The Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico — which has one of the world’s biggest radio telescopes — captured the 2014 JO25’s first images, showing an object that is likely “two large asteroids that fused together”.
2014-JO25 is approximately as big as the Rock of Gibraltar. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images
THE THREAT ASTEROIDS POSE
You may not see them, but space rocks whiz above our heads all the time.
Patrick Michel, an astronomer at the Cote d’Azur Observatory, estimates that an average of 10,000 to 100,000 tons of spatial material come into our general neighbourhood each year.
But large asteroids passing this close to Earth remain a rarity.
“The next one will pass by in 2027, an 800m long object that will come within one Earth-to-the-Moon distance,” he said.
The last time 2014-JO25 was in our vicinity was 400 years ago, and its next close encounter with Earth won’t happen until sometime after 2600.
2014-JO25 falls within the category of “potentially hazardous asteroids” that astronomers monitor for safety, Pascal Descamps, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory told AFP by phone.
Any space rock at least one kilometre across that travels within 7 million kilometres of Earth qualifies.
The good news is that scientists have identified at least 90 per cent of these flying hazards within our solar system.
The impact of ‘The Rock’ asteroid hitting the Earth would unleash as much energy as about 1000 atomic bombs the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Picture: The AdvertiserSource:The Advertiser
“There isn’t a single one that threatens us in the short term, meaning in the next few centuries,” Michel said.
“There are thousands of asteroids larger than one kilometre,” he added.
“The frequency with which they could hit us is once every 500,000 years, so we are facing a risk that is very low.”
Many sizeable asteroids have crashed into Earth or exploded in our atmosphere, leaving behind massive craters — and clues as to their composition.
Once seen as the least glamorous objects in the solar system, it now looks like asteroids could hold clues to how the Earth was formed, how life began and ultimately, how it will end.
More than 60,000 years ago, a 30m rock crashed into what is today Arizona.
And 65 million years ago, an even bigger asteroid slammed into Earth a little further south, leading to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.
The asteroid that is thought to have killed off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was between 10km and 13km across. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
To prevent such a catastrophe, a team of astronomers from NASA and the European Space Agency have drawn up plans for a live test in space: deviating a potentially deadly asteroid.
A self-guided 400-kilo satellite — hurtling at six kilometres per second — would target an approaching asteroid.
The objective would not be to destroy the object, but to deflect it, since fragments could then crash into Earth. A target has been selected.
So far, however, funding has not been approved.
NASA images show Asteroid 2004 BL86 flying past Earth with its own Moon following close behind. Courtesy: NASA
Once seen as the least glamorous objects in the solar system, it now looks like asteroids could hold clues to how the Earth was formed, how life began and ultimately, how it will end.
