Newest Asteroid On ESA's Risk List Is Almost 100 Feet Wide

KEY POINTS

The ESA added a new asteroid to its Risk List
2020 MA1 is big enough to cause an airburst
The asteroid might hit Earth in 2097

The European Space Agency (ESA) has identified a new asteroid that has a chance of colliding with Earth in the future. The agency is currently monitoring the asteroid through its Risk List.

The ESA’s Risk List is a catalog of known asteroids that have non-zero impact probabilities. This means that all the asteroids featured on the list have chances of hitting Earth.

As of press time, the latest addition to the Risk List is an asteroid known as 2020 MA1. As noted by the ESA, this asteroid was added to the list eight days ago.

2020 MA1 has an estimated diameter of 95 feet, making it about as big as a building. According to the ESA, this asteroid has a chance of hitting Earth on July 7, 2097. The agency indicated that the asteroid might collide with Earth on this date at a speed of over 26,000 miles per hour

Given the asteroid’s size, it is unlikely to cause an impact event if it were to hit the planet. Instead of hitting the ground and creating a large crater, 2020 MA1 will probably explode in the sky shortly after going through the atmosphere.

The energy that would be released from 2020 MA1’s airburst could be equivalent to multiple atomic bombs. Depending on the altitude of the asteroid’s mid-air explosion, the airburst could cause a lot of damage to buildings and other structures on the ground. It could also cause serious injuries and even deaths.

2020 MA1’s chances of colliding with Earth depend on various factors in space. One of them is the gravitational keyhole. This refers to a region in space that’s heavily influenced by the gravitational pull of a nearby cosmic object such as a planet.

If an asteroid passes through a keyhole, it could get nudged into a direct collision course with Earth.

Fortunately, the ESA noted that 2020 MA1’s chances of hitting Earth in 2097 are very slim. According to the agency, the odds of the asteroid colliding with the planet are one out of 347 million.

2020 MA1’s upcoming near-Earth approach is expected to happen on July 21, 2025. During this time, the asteroid will safely fly past Earth from a distance of 0.05818 astronomical units or 5.4 million miles away.