This Type Of Asteroid Would Cause Total Extinction On Earth, Expert Says

A space and science writer explained how big an asteroid should be in order to create an extinction-level event on Earth. The expert noted that in order to cause this kind of effect, the asteroid should be bigger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs millions of years ago.

The explanation regarding the possible size of an extinction-causing asteroid was provided by science and space writer Robert Walker on the question-and-answer site Quora.

As noted by Walker, human extinction via asteroid strike is possible as long as the space rock is large enough. He said in order to trigger catastrophic events that could wipe out humans from Earth, the asteroid should have a diameter of over 10 kilometers.

Although asteroids that range from 1 to 10 kilometers wide can certainly cause a lot of destruction on Earth, they are not powerful enough to make the entire planet completely uninhabitable.

“I know some say humans would go extinct after a 10-kilometer asteroid impact,” he explained on Quora. “I don’t see that. I don’t think that could make us extinct. So - It would have to be much larger, large enough to boil so there are no habitats for humans on Earth and nothing for us to eat for long enough for us all to starve or die.”

“It would be large enough if it boiled the oceans and melt melted the continents,” he continued.

As noted by Walker, Earth is currently safe from getting hit by an asteroid that’s large enough to cause total extinction. Aside from Walker, NASA and other space agencies have already confirmed that they have not yet detected a massive asteroid that poses a serious threat on Earth.

According to NASA’s Sentry, an automated system that keeps track of potentially dangerous asteroids, the largest asteroid on its list is about 1.3 kilometers wide. This asteroid has been identified as 29075 (1950 DA).

Like NASA, the European Space Agency also maintains a list of asteroids with non-zero Earth impact probabilities. Dubbed as the Risk List, the largest asteroid it features is 1979 XB, which is about 700 meters wide.