So says one of the characters in the trailer for Don’t Look Up, Netflix’s new sci-fi disaster movie that begins streaming on Dec. 24, in which space junk threatens to wipe out our planet.
It’s a scene we’ve seen on screen before: Giant object hurtles toward us, scientists ring alarms, everyone panics trying to figure out how to prevent total catastrophe. A pair of thrillers in 1998 were based on a similar premise — remember Deep Impact and Armageddon, anyone?
But while it’s a common trope in movies, just how likely is it we’ll experience an Earth-ending hit from a comet or asteroid in our lifetime?
Experts say that unlike the dinosaurs before us, humankind can breathe easy for now.
“There is a slight, very, very slight chance that we could discover an asteroid whose path might intersect that of the Earth in the future,” said Paul Wiegert, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy at Western University in London, Ont.
“But the risk is remarkably small.”
WATCH | What if scientists discover a comet heading for Earth, and no one cares:[embedded content]
25,000 asteroids may pose a risk to Earth
In our massive solar system and even more expansive universe, there are plenty of objects swirling through the cosmos on any given day.
“We anticipate that there are probably only about 25,000 asteroids which pose a risk — which sounds like a really, really big number,” Wiegert said. “But when you consider how big the space of our solar system is, these asteroids are really very, very few and far between.”
Most space rocks also aren’t big enough to destroy our planet.
“With the dinosaur extinction, for example, that would require something that’s really large in size,” explained Sara Mazrouei, a planetary scientist at Ryerson University in Toronto. “An asteroid that’s a kilometre long in diameter, and that only happens like once every half a million years, maybe, or once every million years.”
Smaller-sized asteroids and meteorites are more common and pass through the Earth’s atmosphere fairly often — on a monthly or even weekly basis.
“Sometimes we see them as shooting stars, we make a wish,” Mazrouei continued. “So we’re more likely to see those than something that will end humanity on Earth.”
NASA’s $330 million DART mission — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — blasted off in November with the goal of knocking a speeding space rock off course. (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)
DART mission on course to hit asteroid
Even though a crisis at the level of Don’t Look Up isn’t likely to happen any time soon, scientists are still preparing for that possibility.
NASA’s $330 million DART mission — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — blasted off in November with the goal of knocking a speeding space rock off course.
The hope is that in September 2022, it will slam head-on into Dimorphos, an asteroid 160 metres across, at a speed of of roughly 24,000 km/h.
Wiegert said the approach might feel familiar to hockey fans in Canada.
“An asteroid which is coming toward us might not be that unlike a hard shot in hockey, and even a relatively small tip can deflect the puck quite effectively,” he explained. “So we need to learn how to deflect the puck, as it were, as far as asteroids are concerned.”
In other words, it’s not about explosive force being used to blow up incoming threats; it’s about nudging them out of the way.
WATCH | NASA spacecraft en route to smash into asteroid:
NASA spacecraft en route to smash into asteroid
29 days ago
Duration 3:52
NASA has launched a spacecraft that will reach an asteroid in 10 months and smash into it — on purpose — to see if it’s possible to change the space rock’s orbit. 3:52
Scientists are also exploring other novel approaches, according to Mazrouei, such as sending up massive spacecraft to offer a gravitational tug on asteroids to pull them off course or shooting lasers at far-off space rocks.
And while those concepts do feel rooted in a science-fiction flick, she stressed that one plot line we see in movies is highly unlikely: getting caught off guard by a giant object headed our way.
Researchers around the world are constantly scanning the skies, and while we only know about roughly 40 per cent of the near-Earth objects, Mazrouei says NASA and other teams have catalogued up to 90 per cent of the big ones — most of which are still years or decades away, giving humanity time to prepare.
“If we spot an asteroid coming for us tomorrow, there’s no way we can do anything about it with a mission like DART,” she said. “So we’ve got to plan in advance.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
