If an asteroid half the size of a football field were to strike Earth, it would flatten everything within 750 square miles.
Today, one will come within 17,200 miles of us — closer than some satellites currently circling the planet, according to NASA.
The asteroid, known as 2012 DA14, will fly closest to Earth at about 2:30 p.m. today as its orbit intersects with the Earth’s.
The asteroid is the largest predicted object to approach this close to Earth, according to NASA. However, as it travels 17,450 mph, it will almost be impossible for humans to see it.
Francisco Reyes, associate scientist in UF’s Department of Astronomy, said an asteroid of this size wouldn’t threaten the entire human race.
“We’d need something a few kilometers across to create any sort of extinction event,” he said, “but even still, it’s no joke if it were to impact.”
Although there are ideas to divert potentially dangerous asteroids, Reyes said experts would need a least a few years to prepare if a large object was poised to strike Earth.
“If it were coming to hit in a few months,” he said, “we would really need to just find somewhere to hide.”
Shiwangi Mishra, a 19-year-old UF microbiology and cell science sophomore, said she’s worried there is no reliable protection against objects near Earth’s orbit.
“If there are some asteroids out there that can change course and come to Earth, there should be plans that at least would be able to save the planet from major destruction,” she said.
