NASA Asteroid Surprise: New Space Rocks Stun Scientists With Sudden Appearance

NASA recently revealed that there have been a significant increase of asteroids hurtling near Earth for the past 10 years, causing alarm within the space community.

Now scientists from the U.S. space agency have revealed that they have actually missed detecting three new space rocks that are headed towards Earth’s atmosphere, one of which they discovered only three days ago. The asteroids are said to be traveling at incredible speed and could be passing Earth tomorrow. This late tracking has raised questions on Earth’s ability to track cataclysmic asteroids in the future.

The asteroids are believed to get close to the Earth’s region via “close approach” trajectories and could reach our planet as early as Oct. 9. The first asteroid to skim Earth is called Asteroid 2019 TV1 and is labeled to be an Apollo-type NEO or Near-Earth Objects.

A near-Earth object (NEO) is identified as a “solar system body where its closest approach to the Sun is less than 1.3 astronomical units.” It should be noted, however, that a close passage is still considered far in our concept of distance and could mean millions of kilometers away but can still pose significant danger should the asteroid veer away from its original direction.

The size of the Asteroid TV1 is estimated to range somewhere between 55.7 feet to 124.6 feet across and is flying through space at 8.97 kilometer per second or 20,065 mph (32,292 kph) in terms of speed.

The asteroid is only one of many celestial bodies that are raising concern within the space community. According to a report, a NASA video showcased all known asteroids that passed through our solar system from Jan. 1, 1999, to Jan. 31, 2018 and it showed just how many near-Earth collisions occurred during the last two decades.

In the report’s video, blue dots represented near-Earth asteroids while the orange represented main-belt asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The video clearly showed that there have been increased blue dots appearing over the 20-year time-lapse.

Because of this, space agencies all over the world should go over the efficacy of its asteroid tracking capabilities and its defense mechanism should a catastrophic possibility calls for it.