Potentially hazardous space rock will be flying towards our planet
But no worries, the asteroid 2014 JO25 will fly past Earth safely at 4.6 lunar distances on April 19 – which is 1.1 million miles.
It is considered to be the closest flyby by a big asteroid in more than a decade.
NASA says, ‘The 2017 flyby is the closest by an asteroid at least this large since the encounter by 4179 Toutatis at four lunar distances in September 2004. The next known flyby by an object with a comparable or larger diameter will occur when 800-m-diameter asteroid 1999 AN10 approaches within one lunar distance in August 2027.’
Does Earth need an anti-asteroid shield?
When American government representatives asked NASA head Charles Boden what the best response to a large asteroid headed for New York City would be, his answer was simple: ‘Pray’.
Now a highly respected UK scientists has warned that governments need to spend ‘hundreds of millions’ on new anti-asteroid systems to keep us safe.
Lord Martin Rees, UK Astronomer Royal, said that governments need to create both a better asteroid detection system, and a deflection system.
Speaking to a press conference in Luxembourg, he said, ‘I think we are all aware that we on planet earth are vulnerable to impacts from outside we know evidence these have happened in the past.
‘It may not be the greatest risk or highest profile short term risk confronting earth, but if you make an assessment of what insurance premium it is worth paying in order to reduce impact, you would come up with a figure of several hundred million euros a year – which the world should be spending to reduce this risk.’
‘We know that asteroids pose risks to Earth and recent advances in sensor technology have radically improved our ability to detect and deflect these Near Earth objects.’
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