The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has warned that a giant asteroid roughly the size of a giant skyscraper is heading towards Earth. The asteroid, which has been assigned the name ‘Bennu’, is a giant carbon slab of space rock that measures 210 meters wide.
24 nuclear bombs worth of energy
If it were to collide with the surface of the earth, it would release a whopping 1,200 Mt’s of energy, which is approximately that same amount of energy generated by 24 nuclear bombs.
Watch what would happen if asteroid collided with earth:
Such copious amounts of force would cause devastating amounts of destruction onto the earth’s surface and would likely wipe out the human race… and all living things for that matter.
When could ‘Doomsday’ happen?
The scientists that discovered the giant space boulder have assured that the likelihood of a collision with earth is extremely low. In terms of numbers, the probability of a world-ending incident is 1 in 2,700.
What’s more, they’ve calculated that the asteroid wouldn’t reach the planet for another 159 years- the date that has been given is around September 24, 2182.
Having said that, given the asteroid is far away from earth right now, NASA won’t be able to confirm that exact date of a potential collision until 2135.