{"id":61298,"date":"2024-07-05T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T07:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/3981c05f-75b9-4e61-9eff-9ab5471a8488"},"modified":"2024-07-05T07:39:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T07:39:41","slug":"what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the chances of an asteroid hitting Earth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The larger space rocks get, the less often they impact <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Friday, 05 July 2024 at 07:35 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The likelihood of Earth being impacted by a sizeable asteroid or comet is slim\u2026 but not zero.<\/p>

Take comet Shoemaker\u2013Levy 9<\/a>, for example, which crashed into Jupiter in July 1994.<\/p>

If Shoemaker\u2013Levy 9 had impacted Earth instead of Jupiter, life as we know it would have been wiped out, just like the dinosaurs were 66 million years ago<\/a>.<\/p>

The chance of a comet<\/a> or asteroid<\/a> of this size hitting us is extremely small \u2013 it\u2019s estimated to happen around once every 10 million years.<\/p>

Impact zones on Jupiter created by Comet Shoemaker\u2013Levy 9, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Eight impact sites are visible. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team and NASA\/ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Small vs big asteroids<\/strong><\/h2>

Once a year, asteroids around 3 metres (10ft) in diameter are likely to smash into Earth and disintegrate in the atmosphere, posing no real threat to us.<\/p>

Asteroids with a diameter more than 30\u201350 metres (100\u2013150ft) are large enough to make it through our atmosphere intact, however, and the chance of this happening is estimated to be around once in every 100 years.<\/p>

The damage from an impact of this size would be wide-ranging, and could wipe out an entire city if they were to impact a heavily populated area.<\/p>

\"What
What are the chances of an asteroid like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs hitting Earth? Credit: Elena Duvernay\/Stocktrek Images\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Close calls<\/strong><\/h2>

In November 2020, an asteroid named VT4<\/sub> came within 383km (238 miles) of Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>

The 10-metre-diameter (32ft) object passed closer than any other known asteroid, around the same altitude as the International Space Station<\/a>‘s orbit, and was only discovered 15 hours after its closest approach.<\/p>

So what are the chances of an asteroid hitting Earth in future? And are we prepared for an asteroid hitting Earth<\/a>?<\/p>

Earth\u2019s next close encounters, in 2029, 2035 and 2036, with 390-metre-wide (1,279ft) asteroid Apophis, only highlight the importance of keeping our eyes to the sky and equipping ourselves to respond to any impending impacts.<\/p>

This article appeared in the July 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The larger space rocks get, the less often they impact <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":61299,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/07\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth.jpg",1200,674,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/07\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/07\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/07\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth-768x431.jpg",768,431,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/07\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth-1024x575.jpg",800,449,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/07\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth.jpg",1200,674,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/07\/what-are-the-chances-of-an-asteroid-hitting-earth.jpg",1200,674,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The larger space rocks get, the less often they impact","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/61298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}