When can an asteroid impact cause massive destruction on Earth?

January 2022 was the month that saw three asteroids zooming past Earth and we are already headed towards a fourth asteroid event on January 18.

Although these space objects may not pose any threat to our planet, there are others who have the potential to cause unprecedented damage which could lead to the extinction of our human race.

Asteroids are rocky fragments left over from the formation of the solar system billions of years ago and the closest NEO to our planet in the recent future will be 1.93 million km away from Earth, over five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Despite this, experts believe that such objects as large as 1km in diameter have the potential of hitting the planet every 6,00,000 years to cause massive destruction on our planet.

According to JPL, Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets with orbits that bring them to within 195 million kilometres of the Sun, which means they can circulate through the Earth’s orbital neighbourhood.

While the majority of the asteroid are classified NEOs, only a few are designated potentially hazardous.

These objects are defined as asteroids that are more than about 460 feet (140 meters) in size with orbits that bring them as close as within 7.5 million kilometres of Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

Also read: Five asteroids set to fly past Earth tomorrow