Asteroid Strike to End The World?

NASA officially stopped all rumors that an asteroid will end the world between September 15 and 28, 2015. The initial stories suggested that the asteroid will impact the planet and destroy the entire human race.

ABC News reported that space experts issued a formal statement to respond to various social media posts and blogs, claiming that an asteroid will hit Earth anytime between September 15 and 28. According to the rumors, the asteroid will land near Puerto Rico, wreaking havoc to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, Mexico, Central America and South America. The rumor might have originated from the Bible Code, end-times conspiracists or a self-proclaimed prophet.

NASA finally assured people worldwide that the stories are false.

“There is no scientific basis – not one shred of evidence – that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates,” Paul Chodas, Near-Earth Object office manager of NASA stated. “I there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now.”

Furthermore, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program cited that there have been no comets or asteroids spotted that would impact Earth anytime in the near future. NASA further clarified that all known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids have less than a 0.01 percent chance of hitting Earth in the next 100 years.

“Not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century," he said. The chances of a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" -- as they are known -- striking our little blue planet? Less than 0.01%,” Chodas added.

Astronomer Phil Plait stated in an article by Slate that the chances of dying in an asteroid impact are 1 in 700,000. People have a larger chance of either getting struck by a lightning during their lifetime, or finding a pearl in an oyster. Plait added that the Earth is hit by about 100 tons of material on a daily basis, with of these being tiny pebbles that people see as shooting stars. Rarely, the rocks from outer space are quite large and can cause some damage. The last time that asteroids caused serious damage to Earth was millions of years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs. These could have also been the reason why the creatures became extinct. The same kind of asteroid impact is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

The new NASA announcement will hopefully remove the fears of thousands of people everywhere, especially those living in or near Puerto Rico.