'Planet Killer' Asteroid Hiding Behind The Sun's Glare May Hit Earth One Day
The giant asteroid is 1.5-kilometres-wide - the largest potentially hazardous asteroid spotted in the last eight years. Owing to its size, it has been called the "planet killer" by scientists
Another day, another asteroid! This time, scientists have found a "planet killer" asteroid hiding in the Sun's glare, and they think that it has the potential to hit Earth.
The giant asteroid is 1.5-kilometres-wide - the largest potentially hazardous asteroid spotted in the last eight years. Owing to its size, it has been called the "planet killer" by scientists. If this asteroid hit Earth, it would decimate life on multiple continents.
NASA
Why "planet killer" wasn't found easily
Officially named 2022 AP7, the asteroid remained undetected for so long because it orbits in the region between Earth and Venus. If scientists want to find space objects in this region, they need to look straight at the Sun. And our Sun is extremely bright, making any assessment difficult.
In 2013, a smaller asteroid (with a width of 20 metres) arrived from the Sun's direction without any warning. Thankfully, it was small and exploded above Russia, Space.com reported.
Uncredited
Also read: Image Shows 10,000 Km Long Trail Of Debris Left Behind By DART Asteroid Collision
"Only about 25 asteroids with orbits completely within Earth's orbit have been discovered to date because of the difficulty of observing near the glare of the sun," said Scott S. Sheppard, an astronomer at the Earth and Planets Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science and the lead author of the new paper, in a statement.
"So far we have found two large near-Earth asteroids that are about 1 kilometre across, a size that we call planet killers," Sheppard added.
NASA
The discovery was made possible thanks to the sensitive Dark Energy Camera (DEC) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. This camera scans the sky during twilight hours when these asteroids are detectable within two 10-minute periods every day.
Also read: Scientists Find Evidence Of Another Asteroid Impact That May Have Killed Dinosaurs
NASA
Currently, there are about 2,200 potentially hazardous asteroids and space rocks that orbit dangerously close to Earth and are wider than 1 kilometre. Such asteroids have the potential to wreak havoc on Earth. But even asteroids with width as less as 50 metres have the potential to destroy entire cities.
NASA recently changed the orbit of an asteroid moonlet via its DART mission, setting the tone for potential uses in the future.
What do you think about this planet killer asteroid? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.
References
info@noirlab.edu. (n.d.). Largest Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Detected in Eight Years - Twilight observations from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory spot three large near-Earth objects lurking in the inner Solar System. www.noirlab.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2226/?lang
Pultarova, T. (2022b, October 31). ¡°Planet killer¡± asteroid found hiding in sun¡¯s glare may one day hit Earth. Space.com. https://www.space.com/dangerous-asteroid-discovered-in-sun-glare
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