Do you know that an asteroid has the power to destroy life on earth if it collides with enough power and size? And if it will not destroy life it can at least create havoc on the part it has hit. Satellite destruction, landslides, country damage, tsunamis, loss of human life, among others are some of the drastic effects it can show.
Asteroid 2019 MT2 Was Approaching Towards Earth
Asteroid 2019 MT2, created the same fear on the last day as it was nearing earth and expected to hit earth on 8th July, at 1:15 PM ST. What happens with it is still unknown. But yes with an approx 102 feet diameter and a speed of 11.04 kilometers per second, it was capable enough to shatter the part it was going to hit.
MT2 was spotted by the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), an arm of NASA for such space objects. Since June 30, when it was detected, the researchers are following its movement. They came out with the disastrous finding that it is going to hit the earth. When the last position of this asteroid was reported, it was around 1.6 million kilometers away from the center of the earth. Though the number seems quite big, it is not exactly the case in terms of astronomy. It is not much far away from giving the earth a new calamity collision.
Other Asteroids Cases Earth Had Witnessed
These rocky bodied structures are all around the sun, and we can mainly trace them near orbits of Mars and Jupiter are not rare to our planet. However, we have numerous example, but the latest one that easily clicks to your mind is Asteroid 2019 MO. It knocked Puerto Rico just last month, but that is after burning out in the sky.
The asteroids that get pulled towards our earth to collide ended up in the same, manner. They burn when they enter out earth’s atmosphere. This consequence is something that we can imagine MT2 have also faced.
Technique To Prevent Earth From Asteroids
This burning out of the asteroids is not the exact solution on which researchers can rely on. So, for this problem, they are working on a defense plan. The plan can be used to divert asteroids direction from earth to prevent any mishap it can create in the future.
NASA and ESA are creating a spacecraft that will change asteroid’s trajectory. Even NASA revealed the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in May only that is a technique for the defense.