It appears that humans might just continue on for a thousand more years without the threat of a planet-ending asteroid, based on the observation of scientists. However, they still haven't ruled out smaller space objects that could still cause a devastating impact.
Marked Safe from Planet Destruction, Mostly
The biggest asteroid that can pose a threat to the Earth has already been examined by astronomers, and they have seen that no asteroid wider than a kilometer would make an impact that could wipe out all living things on the planet.
However, Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) has not ruled out celestial objects that are smaller than. Although the collision would not be as disastrous as the ones ruled out, they can still cause a calamity that would affect countless lives.
The study's co-author, Davide Farnocchia stated that their focus was on objects larger than one kilometer since they are the ones that can cause "global-scale damage." They have ranked the terms of their associated risk of impact over a thousand years.
The research was conducted by a team from the SAO, which is a NASA-funded institute that includes near-Earth objects (NEO)in their studies. NASA also has the Center of Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) to keep track of NEOs that may be a threat.
NASA believes that it has already identified around 95% of the one-kilometer-wide NEOs that are within a 30 million-mile radius of the planet. They have also been trying to determine which of the asteroids pose the biggest threat through the Sentry Risk Table, according to Space.
Farnocchia claims that although there is no known object that can collide with Earth for the next 1,000 years, there are a few that should still be monitored since their orbits can change. They can watch it through a new approach that predicts orbit trajectories much further.
NASA conducted an exercise that would determine the potential impact of an asteroid that is a kilometer wide or more. It was estimated that the impact would release 100,00 megatons of energy, which equates to 6.6 million Hiroshima nuclear detonations, reports say.
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What Would Happen Should an Asteroid Make an Impact?
Suffice it to say that it could be life-threatening. It has the potential to reduce the human race's population significantly, and maybe even wipe us out entirely. Just as the dinosaurs slowly died out, the same could just as well happen to us.
Debris would be ejected from Earth and into the atmosphere, which would block the needed sunlight for a sustainable environment. The planet's temperature would drop significantly and vegetation would start dying out due to the lack of light, and maybe even the cold.
That scenario is based on an asteroid hitting land. If it hits the water, the University of California believes that there would be an increase of water vapor in the atmosphere, which will result in a lot of rain that can cause landslides and mudslides, even earthquakes and tsunamis.
Related: Asteroid 2023 DW Will Almost Certainly Miss Earth in 2046, NASA Claims
