Experts reveal surprising way to save Earth from asteroid apocalypse
We may have found a way to stave off armageddon.
Spanish Scientists might have made it infinitely easier to spot space rocks heading for Earth — by calculating the gravitational bending of light to pinpoint their exact position.
They outlined this potential apocalypse-stopping formula in a study published in the journal Monthly Notices Of the Royal Astronomical Society.
“This could have implications on the precise positioning of distant stars, as well as the correct location of solar system minor objects like asteroids,” declared study author Professor Oscar del Barco Novillo, of the University of Murcia in Spain, per Phys.org.
Sir Isaac Newton first observed the gravitational bending of light (GBL) in the 17th century, and Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity confirmed it in 1915.
By using this formula, scientists can have a “better calculation of the orbits of minor objects in the solar system, which could be potentially hazardous to the Earth,” said Professor Novillo. Getty Images
The basic concept is that while most objects’ light source takes a straight path to our eyes, allowing us to easily spot them, this isn’t the case for distant objects like asteroids due to a phenomenon called “gravitational lensing.”
When a beam of light enters a powerful gravitational field like the sun’s, it departs from the straight trajectory and forms a curved path like a planetary prism — making it harder to spot.
Fortunately, Professor Novillo has proposed an equation for the phenomenon that applies when both the source and observer are at any distance from the gravitational mass (such as the sun or solar system planets).
An illustration of gravitational lensing, a phenomenon in which massive cosmic objects bend light from a distant source, creating a distorted image. NASA
“This [equation] could have implications on the precise positioning of distant stars, as well as the correct location of solar system minor objects like asteroids,” declared study author Professor Oscar del Barco Novillo, of the University of Murcia in Spain. Future Publishing via Getty Images
He said the equation is “the most accurate calculation to date of the GBL angle by a static massive object,” allowing researchers to track a variety of cosmic objects, including asteroids.
By using this formula, scientists can have a “better calculation of the orbits of minor objects in the solar system, which could be potentially hazardous to the Earth,” said Novillo, per the Daily Mail.
This is perhaps essential given that around 2,000 near-Earth asteroids — defined by NASA as measuring larger than 460 feet across and boasting orbits that bring them within 4.6 million miles from Earth’s orbit around the sun — are discovered every year, per the Catalina Sky Survey.
While painting the target is comparatively easy, disposing of said intergalactic threat could be a bit trickier.
Fortunately, we’ve devised some possible systems for interplanetary defense.
In 2022, NASA successfully used a fridge-sized satellite to knock the asteroid Dimorphos off course as part of a project called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).
The equation has applications beyond detecting killer space rocks, such as mapping the furthest reaches of space.
“Distant galaxies, which are distorted and magnified by large amounts of intervening mass, such as galaxy clusters, might be precisely located with this new exact equation,” said Professor Novillo.
