The public have recently been warned by NASA authorities as they have announced that the planet Earth is most likely at risk from being hit by a peanut-shaped asteroid that is said to be as huge as the Empire State Building. Long before, the asteroid dubbed as 2015 BN509, which has been named after its date of discovery, has been a part of NASA's watch list of potentially hazardous asteroids that could one day threaten the planet. NASA scientists have already revealed that last week, 2015 BN509 has flown past the Earth last week at close to 44,000mph. Additionally, it is said that the asteroid has reached its closest point to the planet by being 14 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.
2015 BN509 Asteroid May Smash The Earth
According to reports revealed by Mirror Online, the American space agency claimed that they have already noted the said asteroid as "potentially hazardous" and have even warned that it could one day strike the Earth. Through the help of Arecibo Observatory's giant radio telescope, the said phenomenon has been captured during its flyby of the Earth. Furthermore, it was found that the Arecibo Observatory is allegedly capable of studying size, shape, composition and geology of an asteroid; as well as how it is spinning.
NASA's Take On 2015 BN509
As of the press time, Express Online reports that NASA is already on the move of trying to chart all asteroids that pose a risk to Earth. However, experts said that they still have no idea where around 80 percent of those of a similar size to 2015 BN509 are. Authorities have highly emphasized that if by any chance it will be heading towards earth, they are also on the process of trying to devise ways to deflect an asteroid.
In one of his statements, astronomer Paul Chodas from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which runs the Scout program, said that whenever a telescope first finds a moving object, all you know is it's just a dot, moving on the sky, adding that no certain information as to how far away is it is yet constant. Consequently, NASA reportedly has an asteroid early warning system called Scout in place. Within 10 minutes of spotting an incoming asteroid, Scout is then said to have the ability to project potential flight paths.
