NASA reveals possibility of asteroid “Bennu” colliding with Earth

NASA logo. Source: Getty

Washington (cn) – 08/16/2021. 11:08

NASA reveals possibility of asteroid “Bennu” colliding with Earth

• Bennu is one of the most dangerous asteroids known in our solar system.
• The probability of a future collision over the next three centuries is 1 in 1750
• Researchers don’t think the change is big enough to be concerned about.

Bennu is one of the most dangerous asteroids known in our solar system. Through the visit of an agency spaceship NasaScientists have a much better understanding of the near-Earth asteroid and whether it can affect our planet, according to the network.CNN“.

Data collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission over a two-year period allowed precise tracking of Bennu’s movements up to AD 2300, allowing scientists to analyze the asteroid’s trajectory. The results show that the probability of a future collision over the next three centuries is 1 in 1750, which is slightly higher than previous estimates.

Before OSIRIS-REx visited and studied Bennu, researchers believed the total probability that Bennu would affect Earth was 1 in 2,700.

While that does mean the odds are higher for Bennu to strike Earth in the future, researchers don’t think the change is big enough to be concerned about.

“It’s not a huge change and the likelihood of the effect is about the same,” said lead author of the study David Farnocchia, a scientist at NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. . “We now have a much better understanding of Benno’s journey. I think the situation in general has improved and I’m not worried.

Asteroid Bennu now has a higher chance of hitting Earth until 2300, but remains thin https://t.co/49JvIRRmlg pic.twitter.com/Wn3Z7FMy4B

– CTV News (@CTVNews) August 12, 2021

Bennu’s Approach to Earth

“If Bennu collides with Earth, it won’t kill life, like dinosaurs, but instead create a crater about 10 to 20 times the size of an asteroid,” said Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA. The area of ​​destruction will be much larger, up to 100 times the size of the crater. “

“Finding previously threatened asteroids increases the chances and options to push them out of our way,” Johnson added.

“In a hundred years, who knows what the technology will be,” he continued.

“NASA’s planetary defense mission is to find and monitor any approaching asteroids and comets that could pose a threat to our planet,” said Kelly Fast, director of the Near-Earth Object Observation Program. at NASA headquarters in Washington.

“We undertake this endeavor through continuous astronomical surveys that collect data to discover previously unknown objects and to improve our orbital models for them. The OSIRIS-REx mission provided an extraordinary opportunity to test these models, helping us to better predict where Bennu will be when he approaches Earth in more than a century. “

The asteroid will come closest to Earth in 2135. Although Bennu does not come close enough to pose a threat to Earth, knowing its exact trajectory could help scientists better understand how our planet’s gravity will affect the future. orbit of the asteroid around the sun. It can also affect the chances of Bennu affecting Earth after the year 2135.