Page 40 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Jan-Feb 2018, Vol 27, No 1

40 Origin of ‘cigar-shaped’ UFO Revealed

NASA breaks silence

about 'HAZARDOUS'

asteroid passing Earth

HOURS before

Super Bowl

NASA has released a statement about a
potentially “hazardous” asteroid expected to
hurtle past Earth just hours before the Super
Bowl this weekend.

Scientists from the US space agency have been
tracking the asteroid, dubbed 2002 AJ129, for
more than 14 years.
The asteroid is scheduled to make a
“close approach” to Earth at 4:30pm ET (8:30 October. objects crossing the solar system every year.
GMT) on February 4 – just hours before the Even scientists – including Stephen “Most of them will be too far away for us
“greatest show of Earth”. Hawking – had been baffled as rumours of a to see with our current telescopes.
NASA has classified 2002 AJ129 as a alien space ship visit grew stronger. “But new telescopes and surveys should
"Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" (PHA) – a But the origin of the object, dubbed soon be able to find these interstellar
label used for meteors that pass within 4.6 Oumuamua, has finally been explained by messengers, which may be sending us important
million miles of Earth. academic Fabo Feng at the University of information about how stars and planets
NFL fans need not worry, however, as Hertfordshire. formed.” []
the “Super Bowl asteroid” is expected to fly past The Breakthrough Listen project
Earth at a safe distance of 2.6 million miles. announced in December it planned to conduct Facts about Asteroids
In a statement, Paul Chodas of NASA more tests on the strangely shaped space object
sought to assuage fears about the threat the after the initial investigation revealed no sign of
asteroid poses to Earth. alien life. Asteroids are clues to the formation of
The asteroid poses no danger to Earth for But now Mr Feng thinks he may have the rocky planets of our solar system. The
at least another century, he said. discovered the asteroid’s origins, reported objects we see today are leftover from a time
"We have been tracking this asteroid for Express.co.uk. when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years
over 14 years and know its orbit very Oumuamua, which is also described as ago.
accurately," he said. an interstellar, may have come a nearby group of There are a LOT of these leftovers out
“Our calculations indicate that asteroid young stars, he said. there. Let’s learn some cool facts about them.
2002 AJ129 has no chance – zero – of colliding He added: “Reconstructing the object's - Asteroids aren’t the only things that hit Earth.
with Earth on February 4 or any time over the motion, my research suggests it probably came Each day, more than 100 tons of material from
next 100 years.” from the nearby 'Pleiades moving group' of asteroids and comets falls toward Earth. Most of
The asteroid spans an astonishing 1.1km, young stars, also known as the 'Local it is destroyed by friction as it passes through
according to NASA – making it the biggest PHA Association'. our atmosphere. If something DOES hit the
asteroid of the year so far. “It was likely ejected from its home solar ground, it is known as a meteorite.
NFL fans will be glad to know the 52nd system and sent out to travel interstellar space.” - While asteroid impacts were more common in
Super Bowl between New England Patriots and The mysterious rock is the first foreign object in the past, they aren’t as frequent today.
Philadelphia Patriots will not be interrupted by the solar system to be spotted. - An asteroid impact some 65 million years ago
the cosmic event. It’s still unknown how long it has been contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. (It
At the time of its closest approach, the traveling for. was one of several factors that affected all life on
asteroid will be no closer than 10 times the It was spotted by the Pan-STARRS1 Earth at that time.)
distance between Earth and the Moon, according telescope in Hawaii on October 19 and - Earth suffers an impact from an object the size
to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. travelling at about 95,000 kilometres per hour. of a football field about once every 2,000 years.
- A car-sized meteoroid (a piece of asteroid) falls
Mr Feng added: “I simulated how it has
PHAs regularly pass by Earth without posing probably travelled through the galaxy and into Earth’s atmosphere about once a year. The
any threat. compared this to the motions of nearby stars. result is a beautiful fireball, but the meteoroid
In November, a colossal asteroid wider “I found the object passed 109 stars usually burns up before reaching the ground.
than 45 football pitches brushed past Earth. within a distance of 16 light years. - Asteroids are rich in precious metals and other
Measuring a staggering three miles (five “It went by five of these stars from in the metals, as well as water.
km) in diameter, the asteroid would have created Local Association, a group of young stars likely - Some asteroids are actually blown-out comets.
an extinction level event if it struck Earth. [] to have formed together, at a very slow speed The ices are gone, and all that’s left is the rocky
material.
relative to their movement.”
Origin of 'cigar-shaped Mr Feng went on to explain that the - Some asteroids have moons of their own!
interstellar has a particularly slow speed - Most asteroids orbit the Sun in the Asteroid
alien spaceship' that compared with most objects in the galaxy. Belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter.
- Asteroids are also referred to as minor planets
baffled Stephen Hawking He added that this suggested that it was or planetoids. []
of a very young age and hadn’t travelled far, as
is FINALLY revealed similar objects were likely to speed up with age.
Despite being the only interstellar spotted in the
solar system, Mr Feng believes it is possible
THE origins of a strange cigar-shaped alien
there were millions of similar objects that
asteroid that sent UFO enthusiasts into a frenzy
haven’t been seen yet.
has been revealed.
He said: “My research suggests there are
The world was left stunned when the
likely more than 46million similar interstellar
mysterious object entered our solar system last