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| The meteorite that flew close to Earth last month might return in 19 years and collide with us. / Courtesy of Corbis |
The meteorite that flew close to Earth last month might return in 19 years and collide with us, RIA Novosti said Oct. 17.
The 411-meter meteorite – which the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in southern Ukraine named "2013 TV135" –, passed Earth at a distance of 676,000 kilometers, which is 17 times the distance from Earth to the moon.
Astrophysicists say the chance of Earth being hit is very low at 63,000 to one.
But if the meteorite did hit Earth, the impact would be 50 times that of the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima during World War II.
Ukrainian scientists said they would be better able to estimate the meteorite's orbit in 2028. However, in its recent "Reality Check report, NASA disputed the Ukrainian estimate saying it is 99.998 percent sure the meteorite will not hit the Earth.
According to the Torino Scale, which estimates asteroid impact hazards, 2013 TV135 has a one out of 10 rating – one being the minimal risk and 10 the maximum.
Only one other asteroid has the same rating, with collision risks for all others being "effectively zero," according to NASA's Near Earth Object Program.
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