A group of scientists in Arizona in the United States have said that an asteroid like the one that crushed forests in Siberia in 1908 could collide with Mars around January end next year.  

The 50-meter wide asteroid named ‘2007 WD5’ was first discovered by stargazers in November. Scientists at US space agency NASA are monitoring the entity regularly and say that it is likely to go by 30,000 to 48,000 kilometers of Mars on January 30 next year.

Currently, the asteroid is positioned around the midway between earth and Mars and is said to be wandering at a speed of more than 27,000 miles per hour. According to scientists at NASA’s Near-Earth Object Office, in the event of the asteroid colliding with Mars, the chances of which are one-in-seventy-five, it will happen near the place where their Opportunity Rover has been exploring the Martian exterior for three years now.

According to the scientists, if the asteroid really hits Mars, a great amount of energy, compared to three megatons of TNT, will be released. It may leave a crater of the size of half-a-mile wide on the Martian surface.

At the same time, there is speculation that since the atmosphere at the surface of Mars is very thin; the asteroid could even plunge into the surface of the planet instead of breaking down on its surface. When asked whether the crater or hole would be visible from the earth, the scientists said that it depended on the location where the object would collide with Mars.

It may be mentioned here that an asteroid about the same size of this one entered the earth’s radius and crashed on the forests of Siberia in 1908. As a result of the collision over 830 square miles were destroyed destroying over 80 million trees.

NASA had set up its Near-Earth Objects Program following apprehensions of another asteroid strike on the earth and the primary task of this program has been to research and find way to deflect any such eradicator asteroids in the future and save the planet.

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