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Scores of Giant Asteroids Hurtled Past Earth in the Month of January, NASA Reveals
Scores of GIANT asteroids hurtled past Earth in the month of January, NASA reveals
Some are more than 1km wide and threaten devastating consequences if they were to strike our planet. Of almost 70 asteroids on the radar, most are around 100 metres wide, the size of a double decker bus, and would be capable of causing significant damage.
Experts warn that if one of these monster asteroids, some traveling at speeds up to 70,000 miles an hour, were to hit Earth, it could “alter life as we know it”. Plumes of debris thrown into the atmosphere would change the climate, making the planet uninhabitable for all life including humans.
Any impact would still be catastrophic, destroying cities and knocking out transport and communication networks. According to NASA’s Near Earth Object Programme, there are 68 ‘close approaches’ forecast before the end of January 2015.
The next, due on January 3, is the 490-metre wide 2005 YQ96 asteroid, hurtled through space at more than 30,000 miles per hour. The biggest to skim the planet earth was the mile-wide 2007 EJ asteroid, hurtled past on January 12th at 34,500 miles per hour.
