Do All The Asteroids Pose Great Threat To Earth?
What Are Asteroids?
Asteroids are a small body of rocks, metals or other elements which are mainly found in the inner solar system. They are plenty in numbers and are of various sizes. The large asteroids are also called Planetoids. Asteroids are also found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. As per the report of NASA, 994,383 asteroids were known till now over 4.6 billion years ago.
Classification Of Asteroids:-
Asteroids are mainly of three types:-
- C-type Asteroids (chondrite) – These are the most ancient and common type of asteroids. It consists of clay and silicate rocks and dark in colour.
- S-types Asteroids (stony) – These are made up of silicate materials and nickel-iron.
- M-types (nickel-iron) – These are a type of metallic asteroids.
Do They All Pose A Massive Threat?
No, all asteroids do not pose a significant threat to our planet Earth. The Earth comes across more than 100 tonnes of dust and sand-sized particles from space almost every day. Every few days we come across some news of asteroids coming towards the Earth. And undoubtedly, it creates panic among the common people.
As per a report, Asteroid 465824 2010 FR, “twice as big as the Pyramid of Giza” was expected to cross the Earth’s orbit on September 6, 2020. But NASA reports that such dangerous asteroids coming towards the earth orbit are the rarest of scenarios.
The space research organisation reported, “Our #PlanetaryDefense experts are not worried about asteroid 2010 FR, and you shouldn’t be either because it has zero chance of hitting Earth. It will safely pass by our planet on September 6 more than 4.6 million miles away—that’s more than 19 times the distance of our Moon!”
Recently NASA also reported, “Yes, asteroids safely pass by Earth all the time, and there is no known asteroid impact threat for the next 100 years. Regardless, stories sometimes surface with alarming headlines surrounding particular asteroids, so we like to reassure everyone when we see such conversations.”
