Asteroid Impact May Wipe out Life on Earth in 2035 say Russian Scientists
A scientific conference dedicated to asteroid and comet security opened in the Practical Astronomy Institute in St. Petersburg on Monday, Russian news agencies report. One of its participants said that the 2004 MN4 asteroid could hit Earth in 2035, wiping out all life on the planet. One of the scientists taking part in the conference, Viktor Shor of the Practical Astronomy Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that at present many experts see a real threat of Earth’s collision with the 2004 MN 4 asteroid. Initially the collision was predicted for 2028, but the latest calculations show that in 2028 the asteroid will only pass very close to Earth. However, Shor says that his research predicts that the asteroid’s orbit could change and it may return in seven years this time crashing into the Earth’s surface. Experts from the Russian Institute of Calculus Mathematics and Mathematical Physics also presented models of space-originated and landslide tsunamis. “A powerful asteroid impact on the ocean could cause tsunamis several hundred meters high,” the scientists said, adding that regular tsunamis caused by earthquakes rarely reach 50 meters high. According to the model, the impact of a 500-meter asteroid traveling at a speed of 10-20 kilometers per second hitting the ocean would cause a circular wave 200-meters high.
No comments:
Post a Comment