An asteroid discovered by Zhao Haibin, an astronomer at Purple Mountain Observatory in China, reveals that an enormous asteroid as powerful as three billion nuclear bombs is headed towards our planet. As per reports, he spotted the asteroid with the help of country's largest telescope. According to Haibin, the technology is crucial in identifying potential threats in the solar system.
"With the help of our images, astronomers across the globe have a more accurate moving trajectory of the asteroid," said Zhao Haibin.
The report also points out that if the asteroid is indeed moving towards the Earth, it can bring with it massive destruction, causing damage to the point of extinction.
The asteroid in question, 2009ES, was first discovered in the year it is named after. At the moment, the researchers claim that if the asteroid does collide with our planet, it is not known when and where the strike will happen. This asteroid has attracted a lot of controversy for quite sometime and is often discussed every now and then.
In fact, the talks about this asteroid and meteor strike in Australia, space scientists fear if Earth is sufficiently protected if there are more such collisions, especially when a rumored massive asteroid is reportedly headed towards our planet.
The residents in Queensland were left shocked and terrified after a huge crash that was actually a meteor strike.
According to a Facebook user Lynette Emerson, "My husband was putting out the garbage bins when he saw the outside of the house light up.
"He turned around and saw a brilliant meteor or something flash overhead and disappeared over the sea."
While Owen Bennedick of Wappa Falls Observatory says unless there is an instance of a big scare, not much research is done on the matter of asteroid or meteor strike. He adds that only in case of a strike do they run to the telescope, but soon get bored and start doing other things.
He says, "It needs to be either a dedicated organisation that keeps people on track or to be funded in some way."
Even though NASA agreed that the Earth is not as protected as it should be, they also released a statement back in 2015 that an asteroid attack is not expected anytime within the next few hundred years.
