An asteroid labelled 2000 ET70 is thundering towards the Earth, and if it hits the Earth, it could cause a disaster of apocalyptic proportions. Experts are using powerful telescopes in a desperate bid to discover how close it is from Earth and what are the probabilities of it crashing into the planet.
The asteroid is said to be about two miles wide and has been labelled by experts as a potentially hazardous asteroid. NASA stated that it knows very little about the fist shaped rock. If a rock of this size hits the Earth, it could cause massive earthquakes, gigantic tidal waves and could wipe all living forms on earth. The rock had passed close to the Earth at 18 lunar distances in 2012, and this is dangerously close to a body of this size. Scientists fear that it will return in the coming decades and this time it will pass much closer raising the fear of a direct hit.
However, NASA has said that it does not know about any asteroid or comet which is on a collision course with Earth. It also said that the chances of a direct hit by an asteroid in the coming centuries are very less.
NASA is also on the lookout for seeking out such asteroids which have a chance of hitting the planet and is also studying ways to deflect such rocks out of harm’s way. This statement comes after experts warned that large asteroids which have the potential to wipe out human civilization could be bound towards Earth and we have no idea about them.
Joshua Emery, an associate professor of planetary science, is now a member of a crack NASA team, OSIRIS-Rex asteroid study which was launched in September, eight from Cape Canaveral, Florida. He is leading a thermal analysis working group which will pore over infrared data which will help them understand the surface structure of the asteroid.
