In response to rumors rampantly spreading across the Internet, NASA issued a statement on Friday that planet Earth is indeed safe for the foreseeable future – at least from asteroid or meteor destruction.
Recently, doomsday “prophets” predicted that a “2.5 mile-wide comet” will come crashing down to Earth sometime between September 15th and 28th, causing mass destruction and wiping out the United States.
NASA, however, has other things to say about that.
NASA actually has a program that’s function is to monitor asteroid and meteoroid activity and the possible impact on earth. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program – otherwise known as Spaceguard – claims that no asteroid will strike Earth in September.
The program utilizes telescopes on Earth and in space to spot, identify and track asteroids made of rock and comets composed of frozen frock, gas, dust and water which travel within a 30 million-mile radius of Earth.
The statement released from Spaceguard’s laboratory in Pasadena, California stated that the persistent rumors regarding an imminent strike required a response from NASA.
Paul Chodas, manager of the lab, stated that, “There is no scientific basis – not one shred of evidence – that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates. If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now . . . There is no existing evidence that [any] asteroid or any other other celestial object is on a trajectory that will impact Earth. In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century.”
This is not the first time NASA has had to squelch rumors about the Earth’s destruction due to objects catapulting through space.
In 2012, NASA dismissed allegations that the comet Elenin was on its way to destroy Earth. The space agency described the comet as a “trail of piffling particles.” The agency also proved right when it predicted that the world would not come to an end when the Mayan calendar ended.
Looks like Earth is safe for now – at least from space.
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