Asteroid Observation: NASA on alert while Earth is "potentially dangerous" | Science | New



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The space giant 2019 OU1 will be flying beyond our planet at 29,000 km / h, and NASA will be watching it closely. The asteroid, 100 meters long, will travel at a distance of only 0.00687 astronomical unit (AU). An AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun, so that being 0.00687 AU is dangerously close.

For reference, Mars – which NASA and SpaceX consider a feasible target for humans – reaches about 0.5 AU.

The asteroid is classified as a potentially dangerous asteroid that, according to NASA, has the "potential to make threatening threats to the Earth".

But NASA says anything less than 0.05 AU, or about 4,647,790 miles, is considered a close-up approach.

According to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Objects (CNEOS), the asteroid will approach Earth on August 28 at 11:36 am and will be only 640,000 miles away (0 , 00688 UA) from the center of the planet.

CNEOS ranked 2019 OU1 as an Apollo asteroid and, like the others in this group, flies over the Sun and Earth sometimes intersecting with the orbit of the planet.

But with 2019 traveling 639,000 kilometers from Earth, the space agency estimates that the chances it hits the Earth are virtually nil.

However, asteroids can strike at any time and there is always a very slim chance that a huge space stone, ending civilization, may hit earlier.

For this reason, many claim that the world authorities should have a plan in place – but it would seem that no.

READ MORE: Asteroid Warning: How Brexit Will Trigger A NEW ERA OF PLANETARY DEFENSE

NASA employee Robert Frost, who works as an instructor and flight controller for the space agency, according to his biography on Quora's Q + A website, said the best thing governments can do is say to the public to "come down", which can be done to prepare for the inevitable.

Mr. Frost wrote in response to the question: "If we discovered that an asteroid was going to destroy humanity, say in two months, what would be the reaction of the governments of the world?"

He said, "It's a difficult question. The movies tell us that they would keep the secret. It makes a lot of sense. Mass panic can be more dangerous than the actual event.

"But my experience in the government is that the government is really good at keeping the secret if it starts in a secret part of the culture, like the army.

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"Something like this would probably be discovered for the first time by someone who can not spell" security clearance. "This would be obvious to astronomers around the world.

"Feeling helpless, the government would probably tell us to" sit down and tape our windows with tape ".

"Then Democrats would accuse Republicans of ignoring global warming and Republicans blaming Democrats for not praying at school."

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