What would happen if the moon hit Earth?
With the Moon coming closer, Earth’s rotation would speed up. Our days would become shorter and shorter. Global temperatures would go down, nobody would worry about climate change anymore. Unless asteroids burned the Earth to a crisp.
Which planet protects Earth the most?
Jupiter
While Jupiter often protects Earth and the other inner planets by deflecting comets and asteroids, sometimes it sends objects on a collision course straight toward the inner planets.
What would happen if a mile-wide asteroid hit Earth?
If a mile-wide asteroid hit Earth, it would strike the planet’s surface at about 30,000 mph. An asteroid that big traveling at that speed has the energy roughly equal to a 1 million megaton bomb . It’s very likely that an asteroid like this would wipe out most of life on the planet.
What are some of the most famous asteroids?
The most famous asteroid ever is the one that hit Earth 65 million years ago. It’s thought that this asteroid threw so much moisture and dust in to the atmosphere that it cut off sunlight, lowering temperatures worldwide and causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Will you be able to see the asteroid pass by?
Mark your calendars, because there’s a good chance you will be able to see it pass by. The image above shows just how close it will fly, with Earth-orbiting satellites shown as blue dots. Most asteroids that come that close are orders of magnitude smaller, measuring about five or 10 meters in size. This time, researchers are in a unique position.
What is NASA doing to prepare for an asteroid impact?
At the Planetary Defense Conference in the Washington, DC, area, a number of government organizations, including NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are undergoing a mock asteroid impact exercise. (This is the sixth asteroid practice scenario of which NASA has been a part.)