Planet killer found hiding in sunlight

2022 ep7 The largest asteroid discovered in the last 8 years is potentially dangerous to Earth. Its diameter is 1.5 kilometers, reports the American Research Institute. noirlab, Because the impact of such a fragment would affect several continents, such asteroids are nicknamed “planet killer,

The fact that the asteroid has not been found for so long, despite its enormous size, is due to its orbit. it is between earth and venus, Astronomers have to look at the Sun to see it. Because of the Sun’s luminosity, it is extremely difficult to detect anything in this direction with regular telescopes.

So far only 25 such asteroids have been discovered. Nothing is known until it is too late. In 2013, an asteroid about 20 meters in size came down from the Sun. It exploded over the Russian city Chelyabinsk, Several windows were shattered by the pressure of the explosion. 1,491 people were injured when the glass broke.

Asteroid is potentially dangerous

AP7 was discovered in 2022 with dark energy camera of the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. It operates for 10 minutes only in the evening, twice a day. It records large parts of the night sky at great depth and can thus search for objects that remain hidden to other telescopes.

2022 was released as AP7 “potentially dangerous”‘ Because its orbit may one day surpass Earth’s trajectory. According to current calculations, however, the risk of impact is low. Asteroid more likely to hit Earth 7 million kilometers Approach

By astronomical standards, it’s close enough. Therefore, large asteroids that are closer to Earth 0.05AU Aao (7.48 million km) is listed as potentially dangerous. One AU is the distance from the Earth to the Sun (about 150 million kilometres).

Worldwide devastation when asteroid hit Earth

Should AP7 really hit in 2022, it would be a “worldwide catastrophe”. As we know it, this would be very bad for life on Earth.” Scott Shepard Unlike the new York Times, He . is the author of study, during which AP7 was discovered in 2022. According to the calculations of other scientists, an asteroid with a diameter of 50 meters would be enough to destroy the whole of London if it were hit directly.

In addition to 2022 AP7, 2 other asteroids were discovered: 2021 PH27 And 2021 LJ4, PH27 measures between 900 meters and 1.7 kilometers, LJ4 between 300 and 600 meters. Both come no closer to Earth than 0.05 AU.