Human
life could be wiped out on March 16, 2880 because a huge asteroid is hurtling
towards Earth - and experts don't know how to stop it
Nasa won't meet its goal to find 90 percent of potentially dangerous asteroids larger than 460ft (140 metres) in diameter, the agency's Inspector General said
By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 17:11
GMT, 15 August 2014 | UPDATED: 15:48 GMT, 16
August 2014
The discovery was made by researchers at
the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville. Previous research has shown that
asteroids are loose piles of rubble held together by gravity and friction.
However, the UT team found that the
asteroid, called 1950 DA, is spinning so quickly that it defies these forces.
It is approximately 3,280ft (1,000 metres)
in diameter, but rotates once every two hours and six minutes.
At
this rate, the rock should break apart and eventually disintegrate, but it is
not showing any signs of doing so.
The date of Earth's potential destruction has been set
at 16 March 2880, when an asteroid hurtling through space has a possibility of
striking our planet. 
Researchers studying the rock found that its body
rotates so quickly that it should break apart, but somehow remains intact on
its Earth-bound trajectory.
They believe it is held together by cohesive forces
known as van der Waals - and although this is considered a major breakthrough,
scientists still don't know how to stop it.
WHAT IS ASTEROID 1950 DA?
The asteroid, named 1950 DA, is a rock two-thirds of a
mile in diameter, travelling at about 15 km (nine miles) per second relative to
the Earth.
It is approximately 3,280ft (1,000 metres) in
diameter, but rotates once every two hours and six minutes.
At this rate, the rock should break apart and
eventually disintegrate, but it is not showing any signs of doing so.
In fact, the rotation is so fast that at its equator,
1950 DA effectively experiences negative gravity.
If an astronaut were to attempt to stand on this
surface, he or she would fly off into space unless he or she were somehow
anchored.
The presence of cohesive forces has been predicted in
small asteroids, but definitive evidence has never been seen before.
It is due to swing so close to Earth it could slam
into the Atlantic Ocean at 38,000 miles per hour.
It is estimated that if 1950 DA were to collide with
the planet, it would do so with an force of around 44,800 megatonnes of TNT.
Although the probability of an impact is only 0.3 per
cent, this represents a risk 50 per cent greater than an impact from all other
asteroids.
'Understanding what holds these asteroids together can
inform strategies to guard against future impacts.'
This research reveals some techniques, such sending a massive object on
a collision course with the asteroid, could worsen the effects.
The
asteroid (pictured), is due to swing so close to Earth it could slam into the
Atlantic Ocean at 38,000 miles per hour.
For example, this technique could get in the way of
forces keeping the asteroid together, causing it to break apart into lots of
smaller, threatening asteroids that could be on a collision course for Earth.
This may be what occurred with the asteroid P/2013 R3,
which was caught by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013 and 2014 coming undone,
possibly due to a collision with a meteor.
'With such tenuous cohesive forces holding one of
these asteroids together, a very small impulse may result in a complete
disruption,' said Professor Rozitis.
The asteroid is travelling at about 9 miles (15km) a
second relative to the Earth.
It is due to swing so close to Earth it could slam
into the Atlantic Ocean at 38,000 miles per hour.
It is estimated that if 1950 DA were to collide with
the planet, it would do so with a force of around 44,800 megatonnes of TNT.
Although the probability of an impact is only 0.3 per
cent, this represents a risk 50 per cent greater than an impact from all other
asteroids.
Over the long timescales of Earth's history, asteroids
this size and larger have periodically hammered the planet.
The so-called K/T impact, for instance, ended the age
of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
Asteroid 1950 DA was discovered on 23 February 1950.
It was observed for 17 days and then faded from view for half a century.
Then, an object discovered on 31 December 2000 was
recognised as being the long-lost 1950 DA.
The New Year's Eve sighting was exactly 200 years to
the night after the discovery of the first asteroid, Ceres.
It was found that the asteroid 1950 DA has a
trajectory that for a 20-minute window on March 16, 2880, a collision cannot be
entirely ruled out.
This graphic shows the orbits of all the known
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), numbering over 1,400 as of early 2013.
These are the asteroids considered hazardous because they are fairly large (at
least 460 feet or 140 meters in size), and because they follow orbits that pass
close to the Earth's orbit
SOURCE: SCIENCE ON GOOGLE+; www.dailymail.co.uk
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