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The 10 biggest asteroids that pose a threat to Earth in 2020

<br /><ul><li>Asteroid 6478 Gault, the solar system’s lone asteroid with a comet tail, was just caught changing colors.</li><li>Astronomers at MIT speculate that its because the asteroid shed its outer layer as it spun.</li><li>The two-tailed asteroid now glows blue instead of red in the near-infrared spectrum.</li></ul>Asteroid’s aren’t supposed to leave two trails of dust behind them — and neither were they supposed to be able to change colours. But asteroid 6478 Gault is a rebel as it is going against the norm.<br /><br />Gault was discovered last December and labeled an ‘active’ asteroid as it left <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-hubble-telescope-caught-an-asteroid-ripping-itself-to-pieces-due-to-the-yorp-effect/articleshow/68620438.cms">two comet-like tails</a> behind it. Now, astronomers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (<a href="http://news.mit.edu/2019/asteroid-changing-color-first-0830">MIT</a>) have caught the same asteroid switching colours, from red to blue. <br /><br />This is the first time that astronomers have seen any asteroid shift colours in real time.<br /><br />"This was a very big surprise," said Michael Marsset, a part of the MIT team at the Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) observing the asteroid from NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on the near-infrared spectrum.<br /><br /><strong>Fifty shades of 6478 Gault<br /></strong><br />Astronomers aren’t quite sure what caused the colour to change. Their initial assumption is that Gault upper layer, composed mostly of dust, turned red after years of exposure to the Sun and simply withered away as the asteroid spun.<br /><br />"About 10% of asteroids spin very fast, meaning with a two- to three-hour rotation period, and it’s most likely due to the Sun spinning them up," said Marsset.<br /><br />The current blue tinge of the asteroid is the result of the less irradiated layer of the asteroid coming to light.<br /><br />"Interestingly, you only need a very thin layer to be removed to see a change in the spectrum," stated DeMeo, the study’s co-author. "It could be as thin as a single layer of grains just microns deep," he explained.<br /><br /><strong>Tailing similarities<br /></strong><br />As the MIT team tries to determine what caused Gault to shift colours, what they do know for sure is that the asteroid is rocky — unlike a comet, which is normally just loose bundles of ice and dust. <br /><br />"It means that probably some mechanism responsible for dust emission is different from comets, and different from most other active main-belt asteroids," explains Marsset.<br /><br />Most comets also emerge from much cooler regions of the solar system. It’s because they get hotter as they approach the sun that their surface starts to melt away. The melting ice is what creates the comet’s characteristic tail.<br /><br />Gault can be found within the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. It’s a relatively average rock by all other accounts measuring around four kilometers as it orbits the Sun from 344 million kilometers away.<br /><br /><strong>See also:<br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-is-asteroid-meteorite-and-meteor/articleshow/70654013.cms">An asteroid only turns into a meteor if it falls to Earth</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-happens-when-an-asteroid-actually-hits-earth/articleshow/70732006.cms">What happens when an asteroid actually hits Earth</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-asteroid-nearly-half-the-size-of-mount-everest-might-be-on-a-collision-course-for-earth-in-less-than-a-year/articleshow/70698774.cms">An asteroid nearly half the size of Mount Everest might be on a collision course for Earth in less than a year</a><br />

Asteroid gets caught changing colours for the very first time

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Reuters/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout" title_caption="Artistic rendering of an asteroid breaking up in space." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/525fe468eab8ea3e70aaec3f-960/rtr2rkfx.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Reuters/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout</span></p><p class="caption">Artistic rendering of an asteroid breaking up in space.</p></div><p></p></div></div>NASA scientists are excited for a large asteroid that is hurling itself toward Earth at over 35,000 miles-per-hour.</p>
<p>The giant space rock, dubbed 2004 BL86, measures five football fields across and will be making its closest approach to Earth on <a href="http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/01/16/asteroid-2004-bl86-to-safely-flyby-earth-on-january-26/">Monday, Jan. 26 at 11:20 am EST</a>.</p>
<p>Even though asteroids are <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140728-asteroid-dinosaurs-diversity-extinct-science/">notorious home wreckers</a>, NASA says don't panic.</p>
<p>"While it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it's a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more," Don Yeomans, the current manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4441">statement</a>.</p>
<p>Humans won't see another asteroid this large shave by Earth for another 12 years. The next one will be asteroid 1999 AN10 in 2027.</p>
<p>So don't miss out, because the best time to see the asteroid will be early next week.</p>
<h2>When and How to Watch</h2>
<p>The asteroid will be brightest between 11:07 pm and 11:52 pm EST on Monday, Jan. 26, according to <a href="http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/01/16/asteroid-2004-bl86-to-safely-flyby-earth-on-january-26/">TheWatchers</a>.</p>
<p>Although the asteroid will be too faint to see with the naked eye, observers can spot it with a small telescope or a pair of strong binoculars.</p>
<p>"I may grab my favorite binoculars and give it a shot myself," Yeomans said in the statement. "Asteroids are something special. Not only did asteroids provide Earth with the building blocks of life and much of its water, but in the future, they will become valuable resources for mineral ores and other vital natural resources.</p>
<p>If you can't gain access to a telescope or binoculars, or your skies are too cloudy, you can watch the asteroid approach live online. <a href="http://www.slooh.com/">Slooh</a>, the <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/news/telescopes-05h.html">live online observatory</a>, will broadcast the event starting at 11:00 am EST on Monday, Jan. 26.</p>
<p>The broadcast, provided below, will include commentary from experts including Paul Chodas, manager of JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office, and Lance Benner, NASA Research Scientist.</p>
<p></p>
<h2>Learning More</h2>
<p>Asteroid 2004 BL86 was first spotted in 2004. Because of its orbital path and size, the asteroid is on Earth's most wanted listed of <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/groups.html">Potentially Hazardous Asteroids</a> (PHAs). This doesn't mean the asteroid will hit Earth, it only means it has the potential to do so. NASA has found <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits/">1,537 PHAs</a> so far, none of which have posed a significant danger to Earth or Humanity, yet.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>In 1908, an asteroid only 120 feet across hit Earth and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/armageddon-plan-for-asteroid-impacts-2012-12">wiped out</a> a part of a Russian forest the size of the city of London. The damage an asteroid the size of 2004 BL86 would be much worse, which is why scientists are on the look out.</p>
<p>As the comet approaches Earth, NASA scientists will be watching and collecting data.</p>
<p>"At present, we know almost nothing about the asteroid, so there are bound to be surprises," said radar astronomer Lance Benner of JPL in the statement.</p>
<p>Since asteroid 2004 BL86 won't be returning to Earth for another 200 years, scientists are making the most of this opportunity.</p>
<p>They plan to observe the asteroid in multiple wavelengths, including with <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2006-00a">large radio dishes</a> at NASA's Deep Space Network in Goldstone, California, and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2006-00a">dishes emit radio waves</a> that hit the asteroid and bounce back to Earth. Astronomers analyze the returning signal, which can reveal information about the asteroid's shape, rotation, and internal density.</p>

There's A Really Big Asteroid Approaching Earth - Here's How To Watch

<p></p>
<p>The giant space rock, dubbed 2004 BL86, measures five football fields across and will be making its closest approach to Earth on <a href="http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/01/16/asteroid-2004-bl86-to-safely-flyby-earth-on-january-26/">Monday, Jan. 26 at 11:20 am EST</a> when it will be 745,000 miles from Earth.</p>
<p>Even though asteroids are <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140728-asteroid-dinosaurs-diversity-extinct-science/">notorious home wreckers</a>, NASA says don't panic.</p>
<p>"While it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it's a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more," Don Yeomans, the current manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4441">statement</a>.</p>
<p>Humans won't see another asteroid this large shave by Earth for another 12 years. The next one will be asteroid 1999 AN10 in 2027.</p>
<p>So don't miss out, because the best time to see the asteroid will be early next week.</p>
<h2>When and How to Watch</h2>
<p>The asteroid will be brightest between 11:07 pm and 11:52 pm EST on Monday, Jan. 26, according to <a href="http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/01/16/asteroid-2004-bl86-to-safely-flyby-earth-on-january-26/">TheWatchers</a>.</p>
<p>Although the asteroid will be too faint to see with the naked eye, observers can spot it with a small telescope or a pair of strong binoculars.</p>
<p>"I may grab my favorite binoculars and give it a shot myself," Yeomans said in the statement. "Asteroids are something special. Not only did asteroids provide Earth with the building blocks of life and much of its water, but in the future, they will become valuable resources for mineral ores and other vital natural resources.</p>
<p>If you can't gain access to a telescope or binoculars, or your skies are too cloudy, you can watch the asteroid approach live online. <a href="http://www.slooh.com/">Slooh</a>, the <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/news/telescopes-05h.html">live online observatory</a>, will broadcast the event starting at 11:00 am EST on Monday, Jan. 26.</p>
<p>The broadcast, provided below, will include commentary from experts including Paul Chodas, manager of JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office, and Lance Benner, NASA Research Scientist.</p>
<p></p>
<h2>Learning More</h2>
<p>Asteroid 2004 BL86 was first spotted in 2004. Because of its orbital path and size, the asteroid is on Earth's most wanted listed of <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/groups.html">Potentially Hazardous Asteroids</a> (PHAs). This doesn't mean the asteroid will hit Earth, it only means it has the potential to do so. NASA has found <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits/">1,537 PHAs</a> so far, none of which have posed a significant danger to Earth or Humanity, yet.</p>
<p></p>
<p>In 1908, an asteroid only 120 feet across hit Earth and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/armageddon-plan-for-asteroid-impacts-2012-12">wiped out</a> a part of a Russian forest the size of the city of London. The damage an asteroid the size of 2004 BL86 would be much worse, which is why scientists are on the look out.</p>
<p>As the comet approaches Earth, NASA scientists will be watching and collecting data.</p>
<p>"At present, we know almost nothing about the asteroid, so there are bound to be surprises," said radar astronomer Lance Benner of JPL in the statement.</p>
<p>Since asteroid 2004 BL86 won't be returning to Earth for another 200 years, scientists are making the most of this opportunity.</p>
<p>They plan to observe the asteroid in multiple wavelengths, including with <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2006-00a">large radio dishes</a> at NASA's Deep Space Network in Goldstone, California, and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2006-00a">dishes emit radio waves</a> that hit the asteroid and bounce back to Earth. Astronomers analyze the returning signal, which can reveal information about the asteroid's shape, rotation, and internal density.</p>

There's A Huge Asteroid Approaching Earth - Here's How To Watch

<p></p>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div>
<div class="image on-image">
<p class="source"><span>Reuters/NASA</span></p>
<p class="caption">Some scientists think the giant asteroid that went on to strike the Earth - and lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs - first broke up in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.</p>
</img></div>
<p></p>
</div></div>Today, at <a href="http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/01/16/asteroid-2004-bl86-to-safely-flyby-earth-on-january-26/">11:30 a.m. EST</a> an asteroid, large enough to cover five American football fields, will fly closer to Earth than it ever has in recorded history.
<p>"While it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it's a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more," Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4441">statement</a>.</p>
<h2>Watch Live</h2>
<p>Since the asteroid will be closest during the daytime, the best way to watch it is through one of the virtual observatories. There will be three offering live broadcasts of the asteroid as it flies by Earth:</p>
<p><a href="http://live.slooh.com/stadium/live/large-asteroid-2004-bl86-makes-its-close-approach-live">Slooh</a> will begin broadcasting on today, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m. EST. Their live feed is provided below and will include commentary from experts including Paul Chodas, manager of JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office, and Lance Benner, NASA Research Scientist.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/">Virtual Telescope Project</a> will begin broadcasting on Jan. 26 at 2:30 p.m. and will also provide real-time images with live commentary by their scientific staff.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bareket-astro.com/live-astronomical-web-cast/lovejoy-and-asteroid-2004bl-webcasts.html">Bareket observatory's Internet-Telescope</a> will have live broadcast of the comet moving across the sky. Their broadcast will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 1:30 p.m. EST.</p>
<p>The asteroid will also be visible in the sky tonight and tomorrow night. Although it will be too faint to see with the naked eye, observers can spot it with a small telescope or a pair of strong binoculars, weather permitting.</p>
<p>The asteroid will be brightest between 11:07 p.m. and 11:52 p.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 26, according to <a href="http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/01/16/asteroid-2004-bl86-to-safely-flyby-earth-on-january-26/">TheWatchers</a>.</p>
<p>Here's what it will look like in the night sky on Monday and Tuesday night about three hours after sunset:</p>
<div><div>
 <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
  <p>
   Where to find the asteroid and thanks RT <a href="https://twitter.com/Jones4Andrew">@Jones4Andrew</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/VirtualAstro">@VirtualAstro</a> <a href="http://t.co/Xzp0mPA839">pic.twitter.com/Xzp0mPA839</a>  </p>- Virtual Astronomer  (@VirtualAstro) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/559418025305456640">January 25, 2015</a>
 </blockquote>
 
</div></div>
<h2>The details</h2>
<p>The asteroid is traveling at 35,000 mph and will come to within 745,000 miles from Earth. That's more than three times further than the distance to the Moon. Humans won't see another asteroid this large shave by Earth for another 12 years. The next one will be asteroid 1999 AN10, in 2027.</p>
<p>Here's an animation of the asteroid's path through space compared to Earth's:</p>
<p></p>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div>
<div class="image on-image">
<p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4441">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p>
</img></div>
<p></p>
</div></div>Asteroid 2004 BL86 was first spotted in 2004. Because of its orbital path and size, the asteroid is on Earth's most wanted listed of <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/groups.html">Potentially Hazardous Asteroids</a> (PHAs). This doesn't mean the asteroid will hit Earth; it means it has the potential to do so. NASA has found <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits/">1,537 PHAs</a> so far, none of which have posed a significant danger to Earth.
<p></p>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div>
<div class="image on-image">
<p class="source"><span>Reuters/NASA</span></p>
</img></div>
<p></p>
</div></div>
<p>In 1908, an asteroid only 120 feet across hit Earth and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/armageddon-plan-for-asteroid-impacts-2012-12">wiped out</a> a part of a Russian forest the size of the city of London. The damage an asteroid the size of 2004 BL86 would be much worse, which is why scientists are on the look-out.</p>
<p>Since asteroid 2004 BL86 won't be returning to Earth for another 200 years, scientists are making the most of this opportunity.</p>
<p>As the comet approaches Earth, NASA scientists will be watching and collecting data.</p>
<p>JPL astronomer Lance Benner said: "At present, we know almost nothing about the asteroid, so there are bound to be surprises."</p>

LIVE: Watch A Huge Asteroid Fly By Earth

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters/NASA</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Eight days from now a 100-foot-diameter asteroid named "2013 TX68" will fly past Earth for the second time in recorded history.</p><p>One hundred feet is about the size of a blue whale, but to be clear, 2013 TX68 is not considered a <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/lists/Dangerous.html">potentially hazardous asteroid</a> and poses no catastrophic threat to human life on Earth.</p><p>Still, NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies <span>(CNEOS) </span>has had its eye on this space rock since it was discovered in 2013.</p><p>The European Space Agency's NEO Coordination Center <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2013TX68;cad=1">first spotted</a> the asteroid while it was passing at a distance of 1.3 million miles away.</p><p>Now, according to the <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4888">latest updates</a> on the asteroid's location and orbit, the <span>CNEOS</span> has estimated that "2013 TX68" will fly past Earth on March 8 at a safe distance of 3 million miles away.</p><p>That's a distance of about 12.5 times farther away than the Moon is from Earth.</p><p>Unfortunately for asteroid spotters, this means that we likely won't have a chance to see the asteroid upon its closest approach.</p><p>"There is no concern whatsoever regarding this asteroid - unless you were interested in seeing it with a telescope," Paul Chodas, the manager of CNEOS, said in <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4888">a press release</a>. "Prospects for observing this asteroid, which were not very good to begin with, are now even worse because the asteroid is likely to be farther away, and therefore dimmer than previously believed."</p><p>Chodas admitted that because this asteroid is hard to spot, the data on its location is too sparse for the CNEOS to map its orbit completely. And this does leave a bit of uncertainty about exactly where the asteroid will be and when.</p><p>For instance, there's a small chance that on March 8, 2016, this asteroid could get as close to our planet as 15,000 miles away. That's still too far to do any harm, fortunately.</p><h2>Twice as powerful as the Chelyabinsk event</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4888">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of 2013 TX68's orbit.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Even if 2013 TX68 were going to make contact with Earth, an asteroid this size poses no catastrophic threat to human life.</p><p>While it's currently the size of a blue whale, Earth's atmosphere would make quick work of the asteroid, whittling it down to a fraction of its current size.</p><p>But it could still cause some damage.</p><p>For some idea of just how much, NASA calculated what might happen if 2013 TX68 were to enter Earth's atmosphere.</p><p>It would likely generate a radiant fireball that would explode close to the surface, but before hitting the ground. Such an explosion is called an air burst, and it's the blast wave from air bursts like these that can be dangerous.</p><p>The Chelyabinsk event in 2013, for example, generated three different air bursts, the most powerful of which released the equivalent energy of 500,000 tons of TNT.</p><p>2013 TX68 is about twice the size of the asteroid that broke up over Chelyabinsk, Russia, and NASA calculated that it would release twice as much energy - or about the same as 1 million tons of TNT. But, again, the chances of this happening on March 8 are zero.</p><p>However, March 8 won't be the last time we hear of 2013 TX68. It's expected to pass by Earth three more times this century in 2017, 2046, and 2097. But the odds of an impact are slim to none.</p><p>CNEOS estimated that the odds of an impact on Sep. 28, 2017 are 1 in 250 million - you have a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chances-of-dying-unnaturally-2016-2">far better chance</a> of dying from a lightning strike than from this asteroid. And the odds of a later impact in 2046 or 2097 are even lower.</p><p>In the mean time, CNEOS will continue to monitor the asteroid.</p><p>"I fully expect any future observations to reduce the probability even more," <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4888">Chodas said</a>.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/debate-meteorite-death-in-india-2016-2">Scientists are bashing authorities' claims that a meteorite killed a bus driver in India</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="E3bHNzMDE6YxowAJRLmRERMGLtDsR02o" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A whale-sized asteroid will zoom by Earth next week for the second time in recorded history

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA sent a spacecraft flying by the Dinkinesh asteroid.</li><li>The agency discovered that Dinkinesh is actually a binary asteroid system.</li></ul><p>NASA sent a spacecraft flying by what it initially thought was one asteroid.</p><p>But the Lucy spacecraft returned images showing that the asteroid Dinkinesh is actually a binary asteroid system, meaning there are two asteroids orbiting a common center. In this case, the system features asteroids of different sizes — one much smaller than the other.</p><p>"Dinkinesh really did live up to its name; this is marvelous," Hal Levison, the principal investigator for Lucy who works at the Southwest Research Institute, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-discovers-2nd-asteroid-during-dinkinesh-flyby">said in a press release from NASA</a>. "When Lucy was originally selected for flight, we planned to fly by seven asteroids. With the addition of Dinkinesh, two Trojan moons, and now this satellite, we've turned it up to 11."</p><p>Lucy flew by the asteroid system at a speed of 10,000 miles per hour, NASA said. The researchers working on the spacecraft had suspected that Dinkinesh might be a binary pair because of the way its brightness changed with time. The images the spacecraft returned confirmed their theory, according to the news release.</p><p>Lucy's flight was intended to be a test of the spacecraft — and it passed with flying colors.</p><p>"This is an awesome series of images," Tom Kennedy, a guidance and navigation engineer at Lockheed Martin in Colorado, said in the news release. "They indicate that the terminal tracking system worked as intended, even when the universe presented us with a more difficult target than we expected."</p>

NASA sent a spaceship rocketing by an asteroid — and discovered the space rock has a little baby one dancing around it

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-simulated-asteroid-couldnt-stop-impact-europe-2021-5">NASA simulated</a> a scenario in which an asteroid was approaching Earth and would hit in six months.</li><li>The experts determined that wasn't enough time to stop it. We'd need at least five years to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/comet-neowise-surprise-appearance-earth-unprepared-for-asteroids-2020-7">deflect an asteroid</a>.</li><li>To have that much warning time, <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword> needs a new <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> telescope that can spot <keyword id="81841" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Asteroids">asteroids</keyword>.</li></ul><p>Last month, experts from NASA and other space agencies around the world faced a troubling hypothetical scenario: A mysterious asteroid had just been discovered 35 million miles away, and it was heading for Earth. The space rock was expected to hit in six months.</p><p>The situation was fictional, part of a week-long exercise that simulated an incoming asteroid in order to help US and international experts practice how to respond to such a situation.</p><p>The <keyword id="67741" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Simulation">simulation</keyword> taught the group a difficult lesson: If an Earth-bound asteroid were spotted with that little warning, there's nothing anyone could do to keep it from hitting the planet. The experts determined that no existing technologies could stop the asteroid from striking, given the scenario's six-month window. There isn't a spacecraft capable of destroying an asteroid or pushing it off its path that could get off the ground and fly to the rock in that amount of time. </p><p>Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, helped host the recent simulation, as well as five previous ones like it. He said this exercise set the participants up for failure.</p><p>"It's what we call a short-warning scenario," he told Insider. "It was, by design, very challenging."</p><p>In reality, if an asteroid like that fictional one were heading for Earth, scientists would need years - not months - of warning. Five years is the minimum, according to Chodas. Others, like MIT astronomer Richard Binzel, say we'd need at least a decade.</p><p>"Time is the most valuable commodity you could possibly wish for, if faced with a real asteroid threat," Binzel told Insider.</p><p>But scientists haven't identified most of the hazardous space rocks that pass near our planet, which makes the chances slim that we'd get a five- or 10-year warning period. In 2005, Congress attempted to address this issue by mandating that NASA find and track 90% of all <keyword id="1821718" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="near-Earth-objects">near-Earth objects</keyword> 140 meters (460 feet) or larger. At that size, asteroids could obliterate a city the size of New York. But to date, NASA has only spotted about 40% of those objects.</p><p>"What that means is, for now, we are relying on luck to keep us safe from major <keyword id="2929843" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="asteroid-impacts">asteroid impacts</keyword>," Binzel said. "But luck is not a plan."</p><h2>To defend a planet, 'know thy enemy'</h2><div type="image" title="asteroid russia Chelyabinsk" height="3744" width="5616" msid="82574875" hostid="261"></div><p>In NASA's recent simulation, the participating scientists didn't know how big the hypothetical asteroid was <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/pd/cs/pdc21/pdc21_factsheet4.pdf">until a week before</a> it was set to hit Earth.</p><p>"We didn't know if the object was 35 meters across or 500 meters across. And that makes a very big difference," Sarah Sonnett, a researcher at the Planetary <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Institute who participated in the exercise, told Insider.</p><p>A 35-meter asteroid could explode in the atmosphere and send shockwaves through a neighborhood. A 500-meter asteroid could decimate a city, affecting an area the size of France.</p><p>So a crucial part of stopping an asteroid from hitting Earth is understanding as much as possible about the rock. That includes its size, the path it takes around the sun, and what it's made of. With that information, scientists can evaluate strategies to dismantle the rock or disrupt its path.</p><p>"It takes time to know thy enemy," Binzel said.</p><p>Ideally, Sonnett said, scientists would be able to study a hazardous asteroid as it passed Earth a few times in its orbit around the sun, before that path brought it close enough to collide with our planet. Observing a passing asteroid several times could take years or even decades.</p><h2>Step 2: Destroy or deflect the asteroid</h2><div type="image" title="asteroid broken up" height="2250" width="3000" msid="82574878" hostid="261"></div><p>NASA has three main tools in its planetary-defense arsenal. The first is to detonate an explosive device near an oncoming asteroid to break it up into smaller, less dangerous chunks. The second is to fire lasers that could heat up and vaporize the space rock enough to change its orbital path. The third is to send a spacecraft to slam into the asteroid, knocking it off its trajectory.</p><p>NASA is about to test that last strategy. Its Double Asteroid Redirection Test will send a probe to the asteroid Dimorphos in the fall of 2022 and purposefully hit it.</p><p>But any of the three options, Chodas said, would take years.</p><p>"Typically, that's a drawn-out, multi-year process to go from proposal to actually having a spacecraft on a launch vehicle - let alone the fact that you still have to cruise to get to your destination and deflect the asteroid," he said. </p><p>After that, it would take one or two years for the asteroid's path around the sun to actually change enough to carry it away from Earth. That's why the timeline matters: The earlier scientists can identify a hazardous space rock, the less ambitious a deflection mission would have to be.</p><div type="image" title="DART nasa asteroid mission spacecraft" height="1406" width="2500" msid="82574881" hostid="261"></div><p>But of course, all of these methods are useless if nobody knows the asteroid is coming.</p><p>"I think the best investment is in knowledge. The best investment is knowing what's out there," Binzel said.</p><p>That means completing a catalogue of near-Earth objects that could damage the Earth.</p><h2>NASA is developing a space telescope to track asteroids</h2><div type="image" title="NEO CAM NEO Surveyor NASA" height="600" width="750" msid="82574883" hostid="261"></div><p>NASA is planning a mission to track down asteroids that are too dim for telescopes on Earth to see. The NEO Surveyor Mission, as it's known (NEO stands for near-Earth object), would launch an infrared telescope into Earth's orbit <a href="https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2021/pdf/2705.pdf">in 2026</a>. Sonnet is on that mission team.</p><p>"If we do the job now of finding those objects and tracking them, knowing their orbits, knowing where they're going to head, and then characterizing their sizes, then we should be in really good shape," she said.</p><p>If the telescope launches and works as planned, it should fulfill NASA's Congressional mandate to find 90% of the most dangerous near-Earth objects.</p><p>But for five years, the NEO Surveyor has been caught in "NASA mission limbo hell," as Binzel put it. Due to insufficient funding, it hasn't moved past the early development phase.</p><p>Sonnett has her fingers crossed that the NEO Surveyor Mission will do well in an upcoming review. At the end of this month, NASA will assess whether the mission is ready to move into the next phase. If so, the team could start building prototypes and developing hardware and software. If not, the telescope's launch could be delayed even further.</p><p>"Because we now have the capability to detect and know what is out there, I think scientifically we have a moral responsibility to obtain that information," Binzel said. "It would be unconscionable that we were caught by surprise, by an asteroid impact that we could have seen coming."</p>

We'd need 5 to 10 years' notice to stop a killer asteroid heading for Earth

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/adam-driver-did-not-go-house-of-gucci-wrap-party-2022-1">Adam Driver</a> asked NASA how it would save Earth from an incoming asteroid.</li><li>No <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-dart-mission-cant-protect-earth-without-surveilling-asteroids-2022-9">city-killer asteroids</a> are known to be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/planet-killer-asteroid-could-threaten-earth-in-a-few-millennia-2022-10">a threat to Earth</a>, but NASA hasn't catalogued all of them.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/adam-driver-said-son-hates-movies-wont-watch-new-film-2023-3">Adam Driver</a> sat down with NASA to talk about avoiding an asteroid apocalypse.</p><p>The actor is launching a new film, called "65," where he plays a space pilot who crash-lands on Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, then discovers the approach of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dinosaur-fossil-from-day-extinction-asteroid-hit-earth-scientists-claim-2022-4">the asteroid which drove dinosaurs' extinction</a>.</p><p>"What if we found out that an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-nasa-dart-impacted-looks-like-comet-hubble-photo-reveals-2022-10">asteroid</a> like this were going to hit our planet today?" Driver asked in a video NASA posted last week.</p><p>Don't worry about such a large asteroid — an extinction-level space rock — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/comet-heading-earth-bright-outshine-stars-scientists-c-2023-a32023-3">approaching Earth</a> anytime soon, NASA astronomer Kelly Fast was quick to clarify.</p><p>"Those large ones, most of them have been found. They're easier to spot. There are fewer of them," Fast, who manages NASA's near-Earth object observations, said in the video. "But there are asteroids still left to be found that aren't <em>that</em> large, but still are of a size that could do damage should they impact."</p><p>Specifically, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-advances-asteroid-tracking-space-telescope-after-years-of-limbo-2021-6">NASA is on the hunt for asteroids</a> larger than 140 meters (460 feet) wide. Those are big enough to flatten a city. Congress had mandated that NASA identify and track 90% of those city-killers, to ensure their orbits aren't taking them on a collision course with Earth.</p><p>"If an asteroid were discovered that were going to impact Earth, NASA's role would be to inform planning, to give information about the asteroid, about where the impact would happen, about what the effects might be," Fast said.</p><p>The agency also has the ability to intervene and push such an asteroid away from our planet. Three NASA missions are filling the planetary-defense toolbelt.</p><h2>NASA can slam an asteroid with a spacecraft — and it already did</h2><div type="image" title="sequence of images showing asteroid from a distance then close up then video cutting out" height="1000" width="2000" msid="98951923" hostid="261" sizebytes="58056"></div><p>Driver's next question was about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-crashes-dart-spacecraft-into-asteroid-to-test-planetary-defense-2022-9">NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which slammed a spacecraft into an asteroid</a> called Dimorphos last year, to see if that push could change its orbit around a larger asteroid.</p><p>It was a test of NASA's simplest option for a deadly asteroid: With enough years' notice, a probe could give the space rock enough of a nudge to change its orbit around the sun and take it off its collision course with Earth.</p><div type="image" title="LICIACube image showing the aftermath of the DART impact." height="1080" width="1080" msid="98951925" hostid="261" sizebytes="12896"></div><p>"Would that work? Could that be an effective, uh, means of saving the planet from an asteroid?" Driver asked.</p><p>It worked when DART did it. The spacecraft's impact altered Dimorphos's orbit by 33 minutes, pushing it closer to its parent asteroid.</p><div type="image" title="Infographic showing the effect of DART spacecraft impact on the orbit of asteroid Dimorphos" height="1520" width="2600" msid="98951926" hostid="261" sizebytes="109614"></div><p>Other options that scientists have pitched include shooting the asteroid with lasers, or launching a nuclear bomb at it. NASA hasn't tried either of those approaches.</p><p>"DART showed that we do have technology for diverting an asteroid in space, but there is still a lot left to be done," Fast said.</p><h2>NASA is studying and tracking down near-Earth asteroids</h2><p>Fast added that NASA's approach to any asteroid would depend on the asteroid's size and composition.</p><p>Another NASA mission, called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-spacecraft-stored-pounds-of-rock-2020-10">Osiris-Rex, landed on the surface of an asteroid</a> in 2020 and scooped up its rocky space dust.</p><div type="image" title="osiris rex side by side skitch" height="1500" width="2000" msid="98951927" hostid="261" sizebytes="178566"></div><p>Those samples are set to return to Earth later this year, and they'll help scientists understand the composition of space rocks, and inform future study of any hazardous asteroids that may be discovered.</p><p>The third leg of NASA's asteroid-defense plan is a mission that Driver didn't ask about. It's a space telescope specifically designed for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-advances-asteroid-tracking-space-telescope-after-years-of-limbo-2021-6">tracking down city-killer asteroids</a>. It's called the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, or NEO Surveyor.</p><p>That mission would help NASA fulfill its Congressional mandate to catalogue those asteroids. That's crucial, because <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-simulation-reveals-need-years-of-warning-2021-5">NASA has to discover any incoming asteroid years before it impacts Earth</a>, so the agency has enough time to study it and make a plan.</p><div type="image" title="neocam asteroid hunter spacecraft discovery nasa jpl caltech" height="1476" width="1968" msid="98951928" hostid="261" sizebytes="169106"></div><p>The infrared telescope NEO Surveyor is currently in development, planned for launch in 2026.</p><p>Even though Driver and Fast didn't discuss that mission, the actor seemed impressed with NASA's efforts.</p><p>"Thank you for your work in keeping the planet safe from world-ending asteroids plummeting into our planet," Driver said.</p>

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