2020 is the year that we need a hero. We need several people to save the earth not from the coronavirus or the murder hornets or the riots, but we are back to the predictions that the earth will be destroyed on September 1 at 10:49 AM EST. NASA and the Near Earth Object Project team have identified two asteroids that have the potential to strike our planet.
Asteroid 2011 E S4 is the one that will come along first. Scientists estimate its length at between 82 and 160 feet with a diameter of about 82 feet. That, in their estimation, makes it relatively small. It is traveling at a speed of 18,253 mph. Am I the only one concerned by the idea that they cannot accurately identify the length of the object? More on that in a minute.
Just how close will this asteroid come to earth? Scientists estimate that it will come within .00048 astronomical units. Yes, I'll translate it to English for you; that's about 44,618 miles. Yes, that is awfully close. Scientists put that in the category of "potentially dangerous." They believe it is unlikely to be significantly affected by the earth's gravitational pull which means we won't help it destroy our planet.
Asteroid 2018 VP1 will likely impact the earth on November 2 of this year. It is moving at a comparable rate but on a slightly different path than 2011 E S4. It has a higher probability, about 65%, of striking our planet. But not to worry, it is roughly 7 feet long and two feet in diameter. That is slightly smaller than the asteroid that entered our atmosphere over Russia a few years ago and exploded before striking ground. That asteroid broke a lot of windows, injured 1500 people mostly from getting struck by broken glass, but some people did suffer burns. Maybe we can direct that towards China, right over the Communist Party headquarters maybe?
As I said earlier there's a whole lot of estimation on the size of the first asteroid yet somehow, we can be extremely accurate about its speed. What if somebody forgets to carry the one or moves a decimal point during all their computations? If I hit a golf ball and the clubface of my driver is .01 millimeters off center that could translate into 15 or 20 yards offline when the ball lands. If a similar miscalculation is made by scientists who use the words 'maybe and possibly' too often for my comfort, that means the larger asteroid could impact the earth. It is estimated that the impact explosion would be about 100 to 125 times larger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It won't destroy the earth, but it could create a nuclear winter in a hemisphere.
The probability that either of these near-earth objects will strike our planet is actually fairly low. I think we're in more danger of destroying our society if we elect or allowed to be elected some of the liberal candidates that the Democrat party has put forth on the local, state and national level. But not to worry, if we survive these next couple of months and are not hit by an asteroid, NASA scientists are tracking three other objects that have similar probabilities right now of hitting the earth. The first one will come around in about 9 years. Maybe the NASA scientists can take a page out of Dr. Fauci's playbook and learn how to make money by creating panic in society.