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Water is the life force behind every living being on planet Earth. Without water, there is no life. Until now, we have believed that water was already present on Earth when the first living beings came into existence. However, a recent study has made an astonishing discovery that puts this very thought into doubt. The study has revealed that water on Earth may have originated in asteroids. Meanwhile, NASA has warned that another asteroid is speeding towards Earth.
Asteroid 2022 UG2
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office has issued an alert against an asteroid named Asteroid 2022 UG2 The asteroid is expected to fly past Earth closely today, October 21, at a distance of just 621,000 kilometers. The asteroid is already on its way towards Earth, travelling at a staggering speed of 31140 kilometers per hour. Although this asteroid is not expected to impact Earth any time soon, a slight deviation in the asteroid’s path due to interaction with the planet’s gravitational field could change its trajectory and send it hurtling towards the planet with catastrophic consequences.
Asteroid 2022 UG2 was discovered very recently on October 18, 2022 and it belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. According to the-sky.org, the asteroid completes its orbit around the Sun in around 379 days. During this orbit, its farthest distance from the Sun is 185 million kilometers while the nearest distance is 122 million kilometers.
Asteroid – Source of water on Earth?
The study was conducted after collecting samples from an asteroid called Ryugu by the Japanese Hayabusa-2 space probe during a 6-year space mission. The probe gathered 5.4 grams of dust and rock samples from the asteroid which scientists used to gather information on the origin of life. Hayabusa-2 was launched in 2014 with a mission to gather samples from the asteroid Ryugu, nearly 300 million kilometers away. The probe successfully returned with the samples in 2020.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the scientists said that the samples collected by the probe could shed new light on the origin of life as well as the formation of oceans on Earth.
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