Is NASA aware of any Earth-threatening asteroids? Luckily there are no known asteroid threats to Earth for at least 100 years. But that doesn’t mean we’re not looking. Asteroid expert Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory breaks it down:
Now, we know that asteroid impacts have happened in the past and can certainly happen in the future. But we should keep in mind that those are rare events. An asteroid impact that could cause serious regional damage only happens every few thousand years or longer.
Still, it’s a good idea to protect us against that possibility and the rule of the game is find asteroids before they find us. And that’s why for over 20 years, NASA has been funding search programs to observe the sky pretty much every single night to find and track asteroids.
And we’ve been doing a pretty good job at that. So far, we’ve discovered more than a million asteroids, including 95 percent of the asteroids that are greater than one kilometer (0.6 miles) and that could come close to the Earth.
Once we discover an asteroid, we project its motion into the future to assess the possibility of an impact with Earth. We have a scale called Torino scale that helps us rank the risk coming from each asteroid. It goes from zero, which is lowest risk, to 10, which is highest risk. And the good news is that for all the asteroids that we’ve discovered so far, the Torino scale is zero — so, lowest risk for the next hundred years.
So, is NASA aware of any Earth-threatening asteroids? No. But we will keep searching the skies just in case.
We Asked a NASA Expert Video Series
- Why is Venus Called Earth’s Evil Twin?
- Is NASA Really Crashing a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid?
- Is NASA Aware of Any Earth-Threatening Asteroids?
- When Was the Last Time an Asteroid Hit Earth?
- How Did Perseverance Mars Rover Pick Its Landing Spot?
- What if an Asteroid Was Going To Hit Earth?
- Did Mars Ever Look Like Earth?
- What Are Lagrange Points?
- What Are the Trojan Asteroids?
- Is There Oxygen on Mars?
- Does NASA Know About All the Asteroids?
- Do Aliens Exist?
- Is There Weather on Mars?
- Will an Asteroid Ever Hit Earth?
- Is Mars Habitable?
- Could Microbes Survive a Trip to Mars?
Video Transcript:
Is NASA Aware of Any Earth-Threatening Asteroids? We Asked a NASA Scientist.
No, there is no asteroid that we know of that is concerning in terms of impact hazard.
Now, we know that asteroid impacts have happened in the past and can certainly happen in the future. But we should keep in mind that those are rare events.
An asteroid impact that could cause serious regional damage only happens every few thousand years or longer.
Still, it’s a good idea to protect us against that possibility and the rule of the game is find asteroids before they find us.
And that’s why for over 20 years, NASA has been funding search programs to observe the sky pretty much every single night to find and track asteroids.
And we’ve been doing a pretty good job at that. So far, we’ve discovered more than a million asteroids, including 95 percent of the asteroids that are greater than one kilometer and that could come close to the Earth.
Once we discover an asteroid, we project its motion into the future to assess the possibility of an impact with Earth.
We have a scale called Torino scale that helps us rank the risk coming from each asteroid. It goes from zero, which is lowest risk, to 10, which is highest risk.
And the good news is that for all the asteroids that we’ve discovered so far, the Torino scale is zero — so, lowest risk for the next hundred years.
So, is NASA aware of any Earth-threatening asteroids?
No. But we will keep searching the skies just in case.
We Asked a NASA Scientist.
12 Comments
it is very good
Babu G. Ranganathan*
(B.A. Bible/Biology)
ASTEROIDS, COMETS, METEORS MAY HAVE ORIGINATED FROM EARTH:
In the Earth’s past there were powerful volcanic explosions propelling millions of tons of earth soil and rock into space (many of which are now asteroids and meteors and which may contain organic molecules and organisms). Read my popular Internet article, ANY LIFE ON MARS CAME FROM EARTH. The article explains how millions of tons of Earth soil may exist on Mars, and how debris we call asteroids, meteors, and comets (some even containing the chemical building blocks of life) could have originated from Earth.
According to a Newsweek article of September 21, 1998, p. 12 that quotes a USC professor and scientist, there may be SEVEN MILLION tons of Earth soil on Mars!
Even if the right chemicals exist, life cannot arise by chance. The molecules that make-up life have to be in a sequence, just like the letters found in a sentence.
Once you have a complete and living cell then the genetic code and biological machinery exist to direct the formation of more cells, but how could life or the cell have naturally originated when no directing code and mechanisms existed in nature? Read my Internet article: HOW FORENSIC SCIENCE REFUTES ATHEISM.
Regarding comets, scientist and creationist, Dr. Brian Thomas explains:
“Astronomers measure comets’ masses and erosion rates to calculate potential lifespans. Sun grazing comets last fewer than 100,000 years.2 They thus confront secular astronomy which maintains that comets formed with the rest of the solar system billions of years ago. A solar system that old should have no remaining comets.
How do secularists solve this dilemma?
Reporting on Ison, The Independent said, “Comet Ison has taken millions of years to reach us travelling from the so-called Oort cloud – a reservoir of trillions and trillions of chunks of rock and ice, leftovers from the birth of the planets.”3
Unfortunately, nobody has yet witnessed a single one of those “trillions and trillions of chunks.” Going strictly with observational science, the “so-called Oort cloud” may exist only in the reservoir of the human mind.
Clearly, secular astronomers invented the Oort cloud to rescue their billions-of-years dogma from a disintegration process that limits a comet’s age—and thus the age of the Solar System—to thousands of years. When Ison becomes visible later this year, perhaps it will remind thoughtful viewers that the universe is quite young, just as Scripture teaches” (Brian Thomas, M.S., Science Writer at the Institute for Creation research).
Read scientist and creationist Brian Thomas’ Internet article, EXOCOMETS: EVIDENCE OF RECENT CREATION
Check out my most recent Internet articles and sites: THE SCIENCE SUPPORTING CREATION and WAR AMONG EVOLUTIONISTS (2nd Edition)
Author of popular Internet article, TRADITIONAL DOCTRINE OF HELL EVOLVED FROM GREEK ROOTS
*I have given successful lectures (with question and answer period afterwards) defending creation before evolutionist science faculty and students at various colleges and universities. I’ve been privileged to be recognized in the 24th edition of Marquis “Who’s Who in The East” for my writings on religion and science.
Drivel!
Do you really think they would tell us if there were? lol
Yes they would
Absolutely not. Like most news stories it’s just mental dribble to play on your heart strings. Did they tell us of Corona… No. But they knew. Did they tell us about 911.. no. But they knew. What’s sad is our trust in systems that fail everytime they are needed most. Did they tell you about Pearl Harbor.. oh wait. We intentionally did that. Stop believing that your government agencies are benevolent.. They are not. History should show you this. Hell 2019 should. Hell did we even see the the rock that blew up in Russia or did they talk about the rock that fell in the Afgani regions a few years back. No. I wish humans would wake up. But don’t even know if you are humans at this point.
shouldn’t we leave well enough alone, what if whatever they are using to destroy asteroids, what would we do if it some how gets deflected back at us ? Some stories have indicated, Atlantis tried this, maybe their weapon is what caused their destruction, as well as Mu and Pan, those are gone as well.
What shallows, but do feel very safe, ahaha.
There is nothing you can do anyhow.
Nasa is unable to see all large objects moving towards earth, it’s a common knowledge, so I don’t understand, what this piece tries to achieve?
Further to asteroid impacts, there are cosmic disturbances like simple sun flairs, but a whole list of more diffused unkown treats ending a bad conscience.
The most depressing of all however is the slow decline of human life over a long painful period, where the natural beauty vains while consciousness never regained the level of joy and happiness in being one with animals and plants, infused into the natural habitat and the purpose of existence.
What a shame that indigenous ancestry led the way naturally and mankind only eversince steadily declined…
a genealogical abyss preferring indulgence of predatory behaviour over the truth and madly believing abstract concepts of evolutionary prowess and philosophical reasonings, but really only losing time on causing sufferance.
An ‘astute’ race, where consciousness evolved out of highly suppressed early creatures carrying a particular profound existential fear in there essence. Thus by leaving the natural context aside and believing in arrogance,only becoming a failed unfit and crazed zombieness.
Repugnant really, but one of these mistakes of evolution in the ample space-time continuum.
Sufficient however to some to realise the reflection and the intent, unbecoming and repulsive nontheless.
Of course they wouldn’t. Did they tell you about corona even tho they knew months in adv… Or 911… Humans are fools.. trusting in untrust worthy entities hoping they won’t s*** on you like every other organized crime syndicate of our government. Fools.. when the rock(s) come we will completely unprepared. Or have you forgotten the rock the blew up over Russia. Did anyone see it? No… Again… Humans… Are you even humans?
Why don’t you leave things alone. God is in control of the universe and our lives. Man has done enough damage to this planet 🌏. The bible does qoute about stars falling from the sky and we are living in the last days. Before this event, Christ will return for his believers who are saved. The one’s who don’t want Jesus in their lives will be left behind which is worse than an astranoid hitting earth. The bible warns us.
Dearest NASA~
Just so you know,(although it may be important to have the ability to change the trajectory of a satellite in the future) as soon as you notified the world that you were sending out a rocket to experiment nudging an asteroid, the public started stating that this means this asteroid is heading toward us.
People do not believe that:
“This is a test / This is only a test.”
I suggest building multiple railgun sites around the world and then having multiple wars over them