The US space agency NASA has warned that a huge asteroid from the depths of space will fly very close to Earth at 8:56 pm tonight. The speed of the asteroid named 2025 QD8 is more than 45 thousand kilometers per hour. NASA has given the status of a potential city killer or city killer due to its speed and size.
According to NASA, the size of the asteroid named 2025 QD8 is about 38 meters or 124 feet. The asteroid will come closest to Earth at 8:56 pm Bangladesh time today. At this time, it will be only 218 thousand 9 kilometers away from our planet. This distance is less than half the distance between the Earth and the moon. Due to the size and speed of the asteroid, there is a possibility of huge destruction. If it collides with the Earth, it can destroy a large part of a city. However, scientists have assured that there is no possibility of any collision with the Earth. It will pass safely by our planet.
The asteroid was first detected by a group of amateur astronomers from the Virtual Telescope Project. They used a 17-inch telescope to take a picture of the asteroid. At that time, it was about 3.9 million kilometers away from Earth. Through this observation, they confirmed that the asteroid is 17 to 38 meters wide and is rushing directly towards the Earth. The size of the asteroid is estimated based on the amount of light reflected from the surface. Therefore, it is not possible to be 100% sure about the exact size. In this regard, Shyam Balaji, an astronomer at King’s College London in the United Kingdom, said that if an asteroid of this size hits the Earth, it could cause major damage.
In 2013, an 18-meter-wide meteorite exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. The 2025 QD8 asteroid is larger than the Chelyabinsk meteorite, so its destructive power is also much greater. In this regard, scientist Balaji said that large asteroids like the Tunguska event in 1908 destroyed thousands of square kilometers of forest. If such an incident occurs in a populated area, it can be serious. Although such incidents are very rare. But the sad thing is that it will not be visible to the naked eye. Since the asteroid is quite dim, a powerful telescope will have to be used.
Source: Daily Mail
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