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October 17, 2013 6:22 pm - NewsBehavingBadly.com

asteroidShades of “Armageddon”! Ukranian scientists announced that they have found a huge asteroid that appears to be on a trajectory that could score a direct hit on Earth in less than two decades:

Named 2013 TV135, this giant 1,350-foot-wide minor planet will reach Earth on August 26, 2032. It has a Torino Scale rating of 1, which means that it “merits careful monitoring.”

Scientists don’t know if this asteroid will hit our planet yet. Most probably it will not, but they will have to keep monitoring it until they have a more precise calculation of its trajectory. If it hits Earth, it would unleash an energy of 2,500 megatons of TNT—”50 times greater than the biggest nuclear bomb ever detonated.” That’s enough to destroy a state like New York and change the climate all around the world.

Only another much-smaller asteroid—2007 VK184—has the same Torino scale rating. But that doesn’t mean there may not be others. Even if none of these two asteroids hit Earth, there are many more lurking out there, undetected because governments are not putting enough resources in early alert systems. If there’s a space program that needs to be funded worldwide—and in a big way—is the one that may be able to prevent an extinction event at one point in the future. If we don’t, we will not have a second chance.

D.B. Hirsch
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.