A massive number of asteroids are hovering around the planet Earth every year. Some people are worried that sooner or later, one of them will hit Earth and erase half of the population.
However, experts are certain that we do not have to worry about Armageddon and we do not have to fear the human life being wiped out, just like what happened to dinosaurs millions of years ago.
Earth is still safe
According to Lindley Johnson, humans should not be worried about asteroids hitting Earth anytime soon. But it is true that there is a chance that if an asteroid does hit Earth, it will be the most devastating natural disaster in history, as reported by USA Today.
President Danica Remy of B612 told NBC that it is 100% certain that Earth will get hit one day, but it is not certain when. History shows that humans survived a couple of devastating natural disasters.
Around 800,000 years ago, an asteroid that was a kilometer long crashed into Southeast Asia, but humans had survived it. It caused the Sun to be blocked out for years because the asteroid threw up dust and it had an impact on the evolution of humans, but humanity was not completely wiped out.
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Scientists are still trying to find out how humans were able to survive the asteroid crash and they are hoping that finding the exact place of the impact will help.
Another reason why people should not be worried about asteroids wiping out humanity like what it did to dinosaurs is that humans are smarter than dinosaurs. It gives us an edge when it comes to surviving an asteroid impact.
Scientist and mathematician, Robert Walker, told Science 2.0 that as long as we retain at least stone-age technology, there are not many events that could make humans go extinct. It is possible that humans will go back to surviving on shellfish or back to beach-combing but we would still survive.
Another way to survive an asteroid impact would be to go deep underground to survive a nuclear winter. Nuclear winter is similar to what happens after a nuclear war.
As of now, there are numerous asteroids flying past the Earth's orbit, and some of them are a little too close to the planet, but none of them are on a direct collision course for the planet according to PDCO or NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination.
If ever an asteroid shifts its course, NASA has telescopes on the ground and in space, monitoring its movements. Currently, the space agency is working on a project called DART Mission to defend Earth against an asteroid that could cause the extinction of the human race.
What are asteroids?
Asteroids are small, metallic, or rocky objects that are orbiting the Sun. Asteroids are usually larger than 1 meter in diameter, while the smaller ones are called meteoroids. According to Planetary.Org, the largest asteroid that has been recorded is Ceres, which has a diameter of 965 kilometers or 600 miles.
Most asteroids are located in the asteroid belt that is between Mars and Jupiter, but there are some asteroids that come near to the Earth's orbit or cross the Earth's orbit.
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