Member-only story
Mega Asteroid On Its Way Toward Earth At Nearly 20,000 MPH Is The Latest Scary News Out Of NASA And CNEOS
Could asteroid 2015 DR215 bring about a catastrophe this week, thus killing millions in its’ wake? CNEOS has its eye on this 1600 feet in diameter, monster asteroid, that’s expected to make a close approach to earth on March 11th.
Asteroid 2015 DR215
2015 DR215 orbits around the sun faster than the earth does and it’s been here before. It’s not uncommon for the asteroid three times the size of the great pyramid of Giza to come relatively close to the planet. Should we be concerned?
It’s not an uncommon occurrence, especially as of late, for a potentially hazardous asteroid to come close to the earth. Just because some asteroids have the label “potentially hazardous,” doesn’t mean they will ever strike the planet. Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, or PHA’s, are any asteroids that come within 4,650,000 miles or smaller than 500 feet in diameter.
However, astronomers monitor thousands of asteroids in the solar system, including many PHAs to make sure that they are aware of any that pose an imminent or even long-term threat to our planet. As of Monday, March 7th, astronomers have discovered nearly 28,000 near-Earth asteroids and 1,000 of them were over a kilometer in diameter.