By Aazam
Our planet being struck by an asteroid is the stuff of science fiction. This concept is the subject of numerous films and books, or attempts to stop one
Asteroid impacts on Earth aren't just the stuff of science fiction; they do happen on occasion
The sole objective of the "asteroid watch" at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California is to find and monitor asteroids that the organisation believes will pass relatively near to Earth
At least five are listed on the Asteroid Watch dashboard for 2022 alone, with one estimated to be nearly 2.5 times as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City
This asteroid (7482) bears the designation 1994 PC1 and has been recognised by NASA since that year
On January 5, 2022, two of the five asteroids—2021 YQ and 2021 YX—safely passed by Earth at distances of 1.3 and 2.4 million miles, respectively
The Moon and Earth both have obvious craters that attest to the planet's lengthy history of being struck by large objects
The asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago is the most well-known one to have ever been found
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) robotic spacecraft, which NASA sent into space in November 2021, is the good news
Its sole objective is to collide with the tiny asteroid Dimorphous at a speed of 4.1 miles per second in an effort to significantly alter its orbit