Asteroid Terror: Deadly space rocks to hover around Earth this September

Asteroids (Space rocks) are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. The space rocks (asteroids) approach the Earth due to the gravitational forces that affect them. Asteroids can bring tsunamis, shock waves, and flattening winds that could be catastrophic. A large number of asteroids are hovering all around the Earth and we might get hit too sooner or later. Yes, you read it right. Recently, many giant asteroids including 2019 OK, 2019 OD, 2015 HM10, 2019 OE, 2019 NN3, 2019 MB4, 2019 MT2, and others approached the Earth, fortunately did not hit our planet and we are safe. No one knows what our future will be like. It is said that Earth will reach its end one day and one of the possible reasons for this could be an asteroid. Well, life on the Earth may come to an end in this month (September) as four gigantic asteroids identified as 2019 GT 3, 2010 CO1, 2000 QW7, and 1998 FF14 will dangerously approach our planet.

• Asteroid 2019 GT 3 - September 6
• The 170-380 meter asteroid named 2019 GT 3 will zoom past Earth on September 6, 2019.
• Asteroid 2010 CO1 - September 14
• The 120-260 meter asteroid named 2010 CO1 will zoom past Earth on September 14, 2019.
• Asteroid 2000 QW7 - September 14
• The 290-650 meter asteroid named 2000 QW7 will zoom past Earth on September 14, 2019.
• Asteroid 1998 FF14 - September 24
• The 190-430 meter giant asteroid named 1998 FF14 will zoom past Earth on September 24, 2019.

It is worth mentioning here that we are still lucky as the chances of these asteroids hitting Earth are nil. According to a report published by spacetelescope.org, there are more than 7 lakh asteroids that have been found in space. Asteroids are mainly found in an area called the ‘main belt’, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroids (Space rocks) are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. 4 asteroids 2019 GT 3, 2010 CO1, 2000 QW7, and 1998 FF14 will dangerously approach Earth. Chances of these asteroids hitting Earth are nil.

At speed of 14,361 mph, asteroid 2000QW7 to pass from near the earth in September: NASA

On September 14, an asteroid will pass from near the Earth and according to NASA, it is larger than some of the tallest buildings on Earth. The asteroid 2000 QW7 has a diameter between 951 to 2131 feet. The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa of Dubai. Its height is 2,717 feet. The second tallest building in Shanghai Tower, it is 2,073 feet high.

According to NASA, the asteroid will be traveling at a speed of 14,361 mph (23111.79 km per hour) when it reaches close to Earth on September 14 at 7:54 am. At that time, its distance from Earth will be 3,312,944 miles (53 lakh 31 thousand 666 km).

Astronomers believe that the asteroid will not pose any threat. But NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object (NEO) is constantly monitoring this. In June, astronomers reported that telescopes could warn people to avoid an asteroid.

Astronomers at the University of Hawaii detected a small asteroid on the morning of 22 June before it entered the Earth's atmosphere. ATLAS and PAN-STARRS survey telescope was used for this. It was a 2019 MO asteroid, with a diameter of 13 feet.

Its distance while passing from near the earth was 3,10,685 mi (5,00,000 km) by the ATLAS. The asteroid was visible four times in 30 minutes at midnight in Hawaii. If an asteroid passes through a radius of 149.6 million km (149.6 million km) from Earth, it is considered near the Earth.

Asteroid danger: '100% chance of impact' space expert alerts in 'life or death warning

AN ASTEROID is 100 percent certain to strike Earth even if we cannot predict when or where it will happen, according to a space expert who told Express.co.uk it is a matter of life and death.

An asteroid impact 66 million years ago triggered a chain reaction of events that wiped out the dinosaurs and two-thirds of life on Earth. Since the killer asteroid struck Earth, many smaller space rocks and comets have pelted the planet. Thankfully, we are yet to see another large object fly directly towards us – an event which NASA claims happens once “every few million years”. As a result, scientists are certain a space rock will hit Earth sooner or later and preparations need to be made for when it happens.

Lembit Öpik, the Chairman of Parliament for the space nation Asgardia, told protecting Earth from asteroids is one of Asgardia’s key objectives.

Mr. Öpik said: It’s a matter of life and death. The chance of an impact is 100 percent, you just don’t know when.


The former British politician, who was an MP for Montgomeryshire in Wales between 1998 and 2010, campaigned in Parliament for more awareness of spaceborne threats.

In 1999, he called on the Government to annually invest between £500,000 and £1million on tracking asteroids.

Then in the year 2000, Mr. Öpik convinced the Government to initiate the Near-Earth Object Task Group.

The group published a report in September 2000, which called for more surveys of both distant and nearby asteroids so-called Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

Even Mr. Öpik’s grandfather was an astronomer whose work focused on the many asteroids zipping past Earth.

Now, Mr. Öpik works with the world’s first space nation to prepare Earth for what he believes is an unavoidable danger from space.

Mr. Öpik said, this happens very rarely, but when it happens it’s catastrophic and it will wipe out between 70 and 95 percent of all life. That’s what seems to have happened before. Asgardia, as one of its key mission objectives, is dedicated to creating a kind of space guard initiative to protect our home planet, as we would call it, from cosmic threats.

Asgardia, or the Space Kingdom of Asgardia, is the world’s first micronation founded in 2016 with the launch of a satellite into Earth orbit.

The space nation aims to establish a permanent human presence in space by building outposts and conceiving the first off-world child. Mr. Öpik previously told Asgardia hopes to put humans in space in the next 25 years. But to achieve these lofty goals, Asgardia’s scientists need to prove spacefaring humans can be kept safe from threats like asteroids. Asteroids are not the only threat lurking in space, Mr. Öpik argued, but they are the most dangerous and easiest to foresee. Thankfully, leading space agencies like NASA do not expect any major impact in the foreseeable future.

The US space agency said, experts estimate that an impact of an object the size of the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 approximately 55ft – takes place once or twice a century. Impacts of larger objects are expected to be far less frequent on the scale of centuries to millennia. However, given the current incompleteness of the NEO catalog, an unpredicted impact such as the Chelyabinsk event could occur at any time.

At the start of 2019, NASA said the number of discovered NEOs stood at more than 19,000 and roughly 30 new space rocks are discovered each week.

Are We Safe From An Asteroid Armageddon? 

Stephen Hawking talked about an asteroid collision being a massive threat to human life and Earth as well. Recently, Neil DeGrasse Tyson also talked about the massive tsunami that will be caused by asteroid 99942 Apophis.

Neil De Grasse stated in a tweet said that society’s refusal to heed the warnings of scientists" is the real threat.

A massive asteroid will hit Earth and space agencies will not be able to do anything about it, warned Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla. Great name! Wouldn’t worry about this particular one, but a big rock will hit Earth eventually & we currently have no defense,” Musk tweeted while responding to a news on the NASA is preparing for ‘colossal God of Chaos’ asteroid.

Whereas, space group B612’s President Danica Remy has claimed that the risk to Earth from asteroids is very small in the short-term but inevitable in the long-term. It’s 100 percent certain that we’re going to get hit, but we’re not 100 per cent certain when, NBC quoted her as saying. Remy also claimed for the first time in human history that there is now the technology to help solve the problem.

"Asteroid Apophis is one of the asteroids that we are tracking and we know that it is not going to impact for the next few decades and will continue on trail,” Oxford scientist, Lewis Dartnell told Mashable India. He further noted that astronomers are looking for asteroids that might pose a threat but until now no such asteroid posing grave danger has been found.

This is why preparing defenses against an asteroid impact event is of paramount importance. However, NASA is preparing to save the Earth from an asteroid strike. The double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is an undertaking by NASA for planetary defense which consists of a space probe that will use kinetic impactor technique to change the trajectory of an asteroid. Well, it is worth mentioning here that it seems that there are advances being made in the field of ‘Planetary Defence Against Asteroids’ and we all must be ready to face an asteroid impact. But, even if we are not, we could always count on a rag-tag team of diggers that work under Bruce Willis and a couple of astronauts to save us from ‘Armageddon’.