Washington, October 4: NASA scientists are keeping a careful check on the asteroid Bennu, a 1,610-foot-wide cosmic rock that might collide with Earth in coming years. According to NASA's OSIRIS-REx research team, the asteroid identified in 1999 might meander into our planet's orbit and strike Earth on September 24, 2182, i.e. 159 years from now. Asteroid Bennu is predicted to be higher than the Empire State Building and capable of releasing 1,200 megatons of energy if it collides with Earth, making it 24 times more powerful than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated.

Bennu, according to ABC News, travels close to Earth every six years and had three close brushes with the planet in 1999, 2005, and 2011. Scientists currently predict that Bennu has a 1 in 2,700, or 0.037%, probability of colliding with our planet by 2182. Asteroid Alert! Doomsday Fears Grow As NASA Says Three Giant Asteroids To Fly Past Earth, Check Dates and Other Details Inside.

Here's What NASA Has to Say

While the US space agency has labelled Bennu's chances of colliding with Earth as less likely for the time being, it has been classified as a "potentially hazardous asteroid" that might come as close to Earth as 4.65 million miles. There is a very slight probability that Bennu would pass through a "gravitational keyhole" - an area of space that would put it on a collision course with Earth late in the 22nd century during the flyby, NASA said in a recent statement.

Although the odds of it colliding with Earth are extremely remote, Bennu remains one of the two most dangerous known asteroids in our solar system, along with 1950 DA. Doomsday Coming? Earth to Have Only 30 Minutes’ Notice if Deadly Solar Storm Strikes as Sun Approaches its Peak Cycle, Says NASA.

About Asteroid Bennu

Bennu is a carbon-rich asteroid found in 1999 that has been designated a "near-Earth object." It originated in the first 10 million years of the solar system's lifetime, around 4.5 billion years ago. It consequently contains vital clues about the origins and evolution of rocky planets like Earth, and it may even include organic compounds akin to those required for life to evolve.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 04, 2023 07:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).