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Forget Asteroids: Hundreds of 60-mile Comets That ‘Could Wipe Out Life’ Are Bigger Threat




THOUSANDS of rogue comets up to 160 miles long pose a grave threat to life on Earth, scientists have warned.

We only know where 10% of the huge centaurs are

Centaur comets can travel around 150,000 miles an hour are much further out than the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

But if one hit the Earth of even the smallest size, it is unlikely much could survive the impact which would turn the planet into a fireball.

Much research has taken place into locating as many near-earth asteroids, which vary from tens of meters to many miles wide, and they still need to find where 90% of them are.

If a centaur crashed into Earth it could spell the end of all life

If a centaur crashed into Earth it could spell the end of all life

But little has been done to plan for the threat of the centaurs the research team claimed.

The research was published in the Royal Astronomical Society journal of Astronomy and Geophysics.

Professor Bill Napier, co-author of the report from the University of Buckingham, said: “In the last three decades we have invested a lot of effort in tracking and analyzing the risk of a collision between the Earth and an asteroid.

“Our work suggests we need to look beyond our immediate neighborhood too, and look out beyond the orbit of Jupiter to find Centaurs.

“If we are right, then these distant comets could be a serious hazard, and it’s time to understand them better.”

If a Centaur deviated towards the Earth’s atmosphere, it would be expected to break up, showering the planet with huge chunks of rock and ice that could each devastate a continent and send tsunamis across the seas.

A 10-mile comet or asteroid which struck the Yukon peninsula in Mexico 65 million years ago is thought to have wiped out most of the dinosaurs, so if a 60-mile comet hit is it is unlikely anything could survive.

In September former journalist turned pseudo scientists Graham Hancock published book Magicians of the Gods which warned a 20-mile long fragment of a larger comet was still in the solar system and could strike Earth in just 15 years.

His book claimed that it was part of a bigger comet that struck between 11,600 and 12,800 years ago, wiping out civilisations.

Mr Napier added: “Some of the greatest mass extinctions in the distant past, for example the death of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, may similarly be associated with this giant comet hypothesis.”

Centaurs are even classed as minor planets, but they have unstable orbits that can cross the orbits of the large planets in our solar system.

They also last for several millions of years.

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