A few days ago, the news began to circulate that an asteroid would crash into Earth on May 6, destroying it along with the life it harbors. Sensational headlines claim that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed “the end of the planet” because of this supposed impact, but how true is this information? According to the real experts, not much.
Despite all the news that you have seen on social networks that affirm that NASA “set a date for the end of the planet”, everything points to the fact that there is really nothing to fear and, according to the real calculations of the Space Agency, the probability of this asteroid hitting our planet is very low. 0.00074 percent, to be exact.
Is it the end of time?
Asteroid 2009 JF1 has starred in countless fake news, as all kinds of lies have been invented about it. From that it is going to destroy the Earth to that it has a diameter of 130 meters, all this is little more than an invention. We already mentioned the low probability of it crashing into Earth, but even if it did make an impact, there wouldn’t be much to worry about. With a diameter of just 13 kilometers, it is not large enough to significantly affect our planet, said Detlef Koschny, a scientist at the Planetary Defense Office.
It’s a pretty standard asteroid. When there is an object that we consider worth informing citizens about, we include it in a document called ‘Close Approach Fact Sheet’ (CAFS).
Also, so that the threat that one day an asteroid will destroy our planet does not keep you awake at night, we will share some good news with you. According to Álex Riveiro, a science communicator, it is impossible for such a celestial body to destroy the Earth. Although, of course, the extinction of the dinosaurs showed us that it is not necessary for an asteroid to wipe out the planet to wipe us off the map, but even so, an impact of this type (or any type) is not expected for many years.
What will we do when an asteroid hits?
There are entire divisions of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA dedicated to the study of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that may (or may not) pose a danger to us. In these offices, the trajectories of the NEOs, their diameters, characteristics, etc., as well as the consequences of a possible impact, are calculated. In the event that an object of this type can impact our planet, they have the obligation to notify the corresponding governments to devise a contingency plan.
Also, last year, both ESA and NASA launched the first mission to deflect asteroids. This consists of the launch of the DART ship, which is supposed to hit the Dimorphos asteroid and change its orbit. Although this asteroid does not represent any risk to our planet, they want to have these tests ready in case one day it is necessary to use this technology.
Be careful which sources you trust
So that you no longer blindly trust TikTok news, we tell you that NASA has a database in which they list and classify space objects that could hit the Earth and you can consult the main table (which has information such as diameter, probability of impact, speed, in which year the impact is estimated, etc.) without any cost or difficulty.
Obviously, a headline claiming that the end of planet Earth is imminent is going to attract a lot of attention and generate a lot of clicks, but don’t fall for it. He always checks this type of information on reliable sources (such as the official NASA website) and avoids falling into a senseless panic.