Asteroid coming close to Earth at 42 lakhs km

Asteroid coming close to Earth at 42 lakhs km

You must have heard about asteroids coming close to Earth and about to collide. Looks like a fairy tale.

But this is true.

February 4, 2018 which is less than a week from now will witness this when asteroid called “2002 AJ129” will zip past Earth at a speed of 1 lakh kmph and is designated potentially hazardous by NASA scientists.

This is potentially hazardous because the asteroid which is 1.1 Km wide will fly about 42 lakhs Km away from Earth which is considered very close in space terms.

To give an idea on this distance Moon is 3.84 lakhs km away from Earth.

In the early years of its formation asteroids had collided with Earth about 4 billion years ago that resulted in extinction of about 75% species of plants and animals including dinosaurs. This also resulted in climate change.

The proof of such a disaster is The Chicxulub crater located in Mexico’s Chicxulub town.

There are about 190 craters on Earth because of such disasters happened earlier.  Out of this 190 following countries have the maximum craters:

  • Canada-32
  • USA-28
  • Australia-27
  • Russia-19
  • Finland-11
  • Sweden-8
  • Brazil-7
  • Ukraine-7
  • Algeria-4
  • Estonia-4
  • Kazakhstan-4
  • South Africa- 4
  • Others-35

India has 2 craters one in The Lonar Lake in Buldhana district of Maharashtra and another one in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. These craters are believed to be 52,000 to 5, 70,000 years old and have a diameter of 11 kms.

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