Asteroid In 2040: NASA Says 'Low In The Sky' 460-Footer Won't Hit Earth
A recent study confirmed that a giant asteroid will be passing by the Earth in 28 years.
While it was initially a concern, new footage of the asteroid 2011 AG5 has allowed astronomers to breathe a sigh of relief now that the 460-foot in width space projectile won't be crashing onto earth in 2040.
When the asteroid was first discovered last year, scientists initially said that it had a 1 out of 500 chance to crash into the planet.
Scientists verified the 2011 AG5's status as non-threatening by using a Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to photograph it three times. The discovery, which was based on several months of observing the asteroid, backed a NASA study that drew a strikingly similar outcome in June.
Researchers involved with the space rock observation said that the asteroid shouldn't get any closer than 550,000 miles from the Earth, which is roughly two times the distance between the human planet and the moon.
The University of Hawaii's Richard Wainscoat, who is a member of the research team that's been examining the 2011 AG5, said the following in a statement, cited by MSNBC:
"These were extremely difficult observations of a very faint object. We were surprised by how easily the Gemini telescope was able to recover such a faint asteroid so low in the sky."
While the asteroid is extremely large, scientists said it's still very difficult to see. NASA astronomers and other scientists regularly watch the skies for asteroids that could potentially threaten the Earth.
Based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., NASA's space agency Asteroid Watch program has its participants monitoring nearby space rocks. Up until this point in time, an estimated 9,000 asteroids have been seen. However, NASA scientists do believe that a million or more of them could be in existence.
