Near-Earth asteroid flew a giant – Russian newspaper

A giant asteroid passed at night on October 11 near the trajectory of the Earth.

The object with index 86666 (2000 FL10) is classified as potentially hazardous, and the message NASA about its approach to our planet a few days ago has caused among the public Internet wave of discussions about a possible accident.

development of the theme

So, the estimated number of amateur astronomers and to support the discussion of professionals, a celestial body with a diameter according to various estimates ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 kilometers, when confronted with Earth will cause an explosion force of several million megatons of TNT, capable of destroying 1.5 billion people.

Employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) of the American space agency, previously put animated projection of motion of the asteroid, soon reported the absence of any threat.

Object 86666 flown 25 million kilometers, which is more than 65 times the distance from Earth to the Moon, and are not dangerous.

For a potentially dangerous space bodies of asteroids and comets, the trajectory of motion which are at a distance of about 45 million km orbit around our planet. Each year, with the help of ground-based and space telescopes revealed to thousands of such objects. Their exact size is unknown, the value is determined by the level of brightness. According to astrophysicists, even falling object with a diameter of 30 meters capable of causing serious damage. In NASA claim that the risk of a collision known potentially hazardous asteroids to Earth in the next 100 years is small – less than 0.01 percent.

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