NASA revealed the probabilities of the asteroid Bennu hitting Earth

In 2019, widespread fear was sown on the planet after various media announced as true what would be the supposed impact of asteroid 2007 FT3 on October 3 of that year. However, when the day came, there was no such impact.

Today, almost two years later, NASA has alerted the population of the Earth, again for the possible impact of an asteroid with the planet; Now, the truth is that, as explained by the US Space Agency, Although the asteroid could crash, the chances of this happening are low and it would be almost 280 years from now.

The protagonist of this new space “alert” is the asteroid Bennu, which, although NASA calls it “potentially dangerous”, It is the same entity that ensures that this name is made by simple protocol, because in reality there is not much to fear with this space body.

According to a report published by NASA, thanks to the data collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, it was possible to “better understand the movements of the potentially dangerous asteroid Bennu up to the year 2300”, managing to “reduce the uncertainties related to its future orbit. and improve the ability of scientists to determine the probability of total impact and predict the orbits of other asteroids ”.

“We carry out this effort through continuous astronomical studies that collect data to discover previously unknown objects and refine our orbital models for them. The OSIRIS-REx mission has provided an extraordinary opportunity to refine and test these models, helping us better predict where Bennu will be when it approaches Earth more than a century from now.”Explained Kelly Fast, program manager for the Near Earth Object Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

In the first place, it was determined that Bennu will have a first approach to Earth in the year 2135, although this will not represent a latent danger for the planet. However, the fact that this asteroid is still very far away for that year, the data of its exact point in the universe at that time is important as it will help scientists to “understand the exact trajectory of Bennu during that encounter. to predict how Earth’s gravity will alter the asteroid’s trajectory around the Sun and affect the danger of the impact”.

Thus, after obtaining the data from OSIRIS-REx, NASA, thanks to “NASA’s Deep Space Network and latest-generation computer models”, was able to determine that For the year 2300 the probability that Bennu will hit the Earth is approximately 1 in 1750, that is, a 0.057% probability.

“Although the chances of it hitting Earth are very low, Bennu remains one of the two most dangerous known asteroids in our solar system, along with another asteroid called 1950 DA,” NASA said.

Now, Davide Farnocchia, spokesman for NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (Cneos), came to the defense of tranquility explaining that, although the chances of the asteroid hitting Earth are higher than what had been thought, the new results are still too low to worry about.

“I am no more worried about Bennu than before (…) The probability of impact is still smallFarnocchia said.

In this way, both NASA and its scientists give a piece of reassurance about Bennu, not only for this generation (which has nothing to worry about), but also for future generations who will be the ones who will experience the presence of the asteroid in the year 2300.

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