‘Armageddon’ IRL? Could a Giant Asteroid Be Next for 2020?
Okay, who did it? Who challenged the universe by saying something dumb like "What else could go wrong in 2020?" You can think that kind of question, but you can't ask it out loud. The universe is listening, and it's just waiting to throw something else at us - something like an asteroid the size of a football stadium.
Yeah, that's right, according to NASA, there is an 1,100 foot wide asteroid, named '2002 NN4' (we can make up a better name than that can't we?), making its way towards Earth in the next few days. It's actually one of several asteroids that NASA is tracking, but this one is the biggest. The others are 'only' the size of a plane and a friggin' house.
Now, before you call Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck...before you start getting your affairs in order or start heading for the mountains, you should know that none of these asteroids pose a credible threat to Earth, according to NASA. Their scientists are saying that the closest the really big asteroid will get is still 3,160,000 miles away from us. For those who aren't so good with numbers and commas - that's over 3 million miles. So, I think we're good. The other, smaller asteroids shouldn't get any closer than 1.8 million miles from Earth.
So now that we know we're safe, let's get back to this name thing. Let's so, hypothetically, that an asteroid actually is on a collision course with Earth (which it is NOT) - what kind of name would we give it? Here are a few possibilities...
- 'Coronasteroid'
- 'Carol Basteroid'
- 'Asian Murder Asteroid'
- 'Karen'
What else could we call that thing?
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