Astronomy specialists need a new asteroid very close to the Land . In a recent observation to the analysis, astronomers reported that it is a planet “potentially dangerous” .
The official name of the asteroid is 1998 OR2 but, it is also known as “planet killer” . It is expected that in a few days it will more than 5 million kilometers from Earth .
This new discovery will be the closest to our planet for 100 years. It should be remembered that the last asteroid that was very close to this world was in the year 1999 .
According to the experts, the next passage of the 1998 OR2 will be many years from now, more precisely the February 23, 2150 . Precise information regarding the size of this large asteroid has not yet been provided, but many believe that Its measurements are similar to those of the Earth . Its orbit would move to more than 5 million kilometers, which might cause a terrible disaster for humanity .
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What does it mean for an asteroid to be “potentially dangerous”?
It is considered a Asteroid Potentially Hazardous (PHA) For those that have the potential to rapidly approach Earth, the minimum orbit crossing distance should be less than 0.05 astronomical units. They also have to have a amgnitud 22 or more and a tip-to-tip distance greater than 50 m.
In a more scientific definition, PHAs are “space rocks with an absolute magnitude (H) of 22.0 or less and a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID ) of 0.05 or less”.
For these magnitudes, these types of asteroids might cause a total destruction for humans because of its size.
There are a number of levels to measure the severity of the phenomenon. This is known as “Scale of Turin “ and is divided into:
- level 0: zero collision probability or well below the probability of a random object hitting Earth.
- Level 1: Very low probability of collision, similar to the probability of a random object hitting Earth.
- Level 2: low probability of collision.
- Level 3: collision probability capable of causing local damage greater than 1%
- Level 4: Collision probability capable of causing regional devastation greater than 1%
- level 5: high probability of collision capable of causing regional devastation
- level 6: high probability of collision capable of causing a global catastrophe
- level 7: very high probability of collision capable of causing a global catastrophe
- level 8: safe collision, capable of causing local damage. This should happen once every 50 to 1,000 years.
- level 9: sure collision, capable of causing regional devastation. This should happen once every 1,000 to 100,000 years.
- level 10 : sure collision, capable of causing a global climate catastrophe. This should happen once every 100,000 years or more.
