The Earth has had its fair share of asteroid collisions, the biggest coming some 66 million years ago when a city-sized space rock smashed into the planet.
It released an amount of energy equivalent to the detonation of 72 trillion tons (65 metric tons) of TNT, scooping a 100-mile-wide (180 kilometres) fissure in land in what is present-day Mexico, in the Yucatán Peninsula.
This event, known as the Chicxulub impactor, wiped the dinosaurs off the face of the Earth along with three-quarters of the planet’s species in what is known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.
Luckily for us today, scientists at NASA can gauge and measure far-away asteroids and predict their collision course, and use high-tech satellites and sentries to prevent such catastrophic collisions.
But this doesn’t take the entire threat away, and there still exists a vast number of rocks in our Solar System that could technically wipe Earth off the face of the cosmic map — including these five sinister asteroids.
Bennu is huge, measuring around 0.3 miles (0.49 kilometres) and weighing some 74 million tons (67 million metric tons).
It was only discovered in 1999 and listed as a near-Earth asteroid given its relative distance from the planet and predicted course.
Bennu currently poses the greatest risk of colliding with Earth, but fortunately, scientists at NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) are confident that ours and generations to come have nothing to worry about.
They estimate that when Bennu makes a close approach to Earth on September 24, 2182, there is a 0.037 percent chance — or 1 in 2,700 — that the asteroid will make an impact.
In preparation for the worst-case scenario, scientists are gathering sought-after information about Bennu, which is believed to have broken away from a much larger rock between two billion and 700 million years ago.
NASA scientists were overjoyed when on September 24, 2023, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned a sample of Bennu to Earth, and teams around the world are now analysing the rock to learn more about it.
In the event of a Bennu strike the asteroid would release the energy equivalent to the detonation of 1.4 billion tons of TNT, sparking destruction on a regional level but not enough to cause a global catastrophe.
The second riskiest rock is 29075 (1950 DA), an object measuring 0.81 miles (1.3 kilometres) and weighing 78 million tons (71 metric tons).
First discovered in 1950, scientists for a time lost track of the space rock before rediscovering it in 2000.
Believed to be high in iron-nickel content, 29075 (1950 DA) is made up of loose rubble and currently has a 0.0029 percent — or 1 in 34,500 — chance of hitting Earth on March 16, 2880.
If that impact were to occur, it has the potential to release energy equivalent to 75 billion tons of TNT, a figure high enough to wipe out humanity.
Discovered earlier this year, 2023 TL4 immediately became one of our Solar System’s most hazardous objects.
Measuring 0.20 miles (0.33 kilometres) and weighing 47 million tons (43 million metric tons), scientists calculated that it has a 0.00055 percent — or 1 in 181,000 — chance of striking Earth on October 10, 2119.
The space rock would release the energy equivalent to the detonation of 7.5 billion tons of TNT, an astonishing figure but far less than 29075 (1950 DA).
Just as researchers lost 29075 (1950 DA) in 1950, 2007 FT3 hasn’t been spotted since it was first discovered in 2007.
This means it is categorised as a “lost asteroid”, but NASA predicts it has a 0.0000096 percent — or 1 in 10 million — chance of striking our planet on March 3, 2030.
The asteroid also has a probability of 0.0000087 percent — or 1 in 11.5 million chance of striking the Earth on October 5, 2024.
If either strike occurs, 2007 FT3 has the potential to release the energy equivalent to the detonation of 2.6 billion tons of TNT.
This would be enough to cause regional devastation like Bennu, but not enough to spark a global catastrophe.
Just like its predecessor, 1979 XB is a lost asteroid, and hasn’t been seen by NASA researchers for 40 years.
It has a poorly understood orbit, and from what scientists do understand, the asteroid has a a 0.000055 percent — or 1 in 1.8 million — chance of striking Earth on December 14, 2113.
The equivalent of 30 billion tons of TNT would be released on impact, a figure high enough to affect the entire planet.
