Near - Earth Object

On June 8th 2014, an asteroid HQ124, nicknamed "The Beast" by many observers, came close to earth, within 700,000 miles. This is the asteroid's closest approach to our planet.
Though researchers stressed that there was under no circumstances that the asteroid could hit Earth. However, an object of 1,100 feet wide could have caused some serious destruction.

NEAR EARTH OBJECTS

An asteroid striking the earth? That sounds like a plot for another boring sci-fi movie. Many movies have demonstrated the possible impacts ( Deep impact, or Armageddon ). However, reminiscing back 65 million years ago, an asteroid struck earth and caused dust and ashes to block sunlight from reaching to our planet. Then, the temperature dropped and caused the extinction of dinosaurs.

In 2028, an asteroid named 1997XF11 would get relatively close to earth but will miss the planet. However, if it were to strike Earth, it would be an impact of 1 million megaton bomb. The mile-wide asteroid traveling at 30,000 mph would wipe out most life on earth. 

For example, if an asteroid as big as a house was to struck New York, it would flatten out structurally reinforce buildings in a mile radius and devastate most of the metropolitan area. This asteroid would have the impact power of 20 kilotons, roughly as powerful as the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. 

Now, let's imagine a bigger asteroid with a size of a 20 story high building. This would have the impact power of the biggest nuclear bomb: 20 to 50 megatons. This supposed asteroid would take out most of the major cities in the U.S.

Then when we get to a mile wide asteroid, the impact would be 10 million times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. If it hit New York, the asteroid would flatten out everything with from NYC to Washington DC. The aftermath would be a cloud of ash covering most of the U.S causing a sudden drop in temperature, killing organisms and habitats. Without a doubt, this would have a destructive impact on the human population in the area. 


Let's take another scenario. If this mile-wide asteroid was to struck the pacific ocean, the result would be hundreds feet high tidal waves that can decimate any coastline in its wake. 


Yes, though an asteroid can be a very destructive problem, spending revenues on detecting and deflecting these space objects would not be the top priority of nations today. They are too busy with creating solutions for immediate problems, such as poverty or hunger. An underdeveloped country would not have the luxury to worry about a fiery rock that may or may not hit Earth. However, NASA has detected 10,000 near-earth objects and 10% of them are a kilometer wide. If one was to strike Earth, it would generate a global crisis. 


Therefore, it is better to prevent than to cure. It's time to prevent a disastrous event in a near future. We have to be prepare for both an immediate and a future problem. NASA has estimated the cost of detecting all near earth objects to be 450 million dollars. 

"Knowing is half the battle" - G.I Joe





BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event#Geological_significance
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2749256/How-YOU-affected-Earth-hit-asteroid-Interactive-map-reveals-devastating-damage-space-rock-inflict-hit-cities-world.html
http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/asteroid-detection
http://www.space.com/26148-beast-asteroid-flyby-earth-impact-scenario.html