Asteroid Big Enough to Wipe Out Indiana Could Impact Earth

Hold onto your butts! There's a massive asteroid in our solar system that scientists are observing that could impact Earth and wipe out all of Indiana.

There's always been something fascinating to me about movies like Deep Impact, Armageddon, more recently the movie Green Land, and other disaster films about a meteor impacting Earth. The movies make it look so devastating, but in reality, how bad would it be? Of course, that depends on a few factors such as the size of the asteroid, its speed, and the impact angle. In the movies, it looks something like this:

Well, it looks like there is a chance of that becoming a reality. With that, there's a little bit of good news and bad news.

Asteroid Heading for Earth?

Let's start with the bad news first. There's a recent report from The Hill, which talks about Asteroid Bennu 2135/2182. Bennu is a pretty big rock that is about a third of a mile wide. Current projections of Bennu are showing a problem right now. Bennu 2135/2182 has a really good chance of impacting Earth.

According to The Hill, there's a 1 in 2,700 chance of Bennu impacting Earth. While that number seems kind of low, that's enough for NASA to show concern. Here's the thing, this asteroid is big enough that if it hit the state of Indiana, the whole state (and then some) would be wiped out. As a matter of fact, they say it's big enough to wipe out a state as big as Texas.

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Now for the Good News

Okay, so this isn't really "good news" as much as it is better news for you...because you won't be around to see it happen. The projected impact date is September 24, 2182. That's almost 159 years to the day from this writing.

NASA has been studying Bennu for a while now. They say that once Bennu passes by Earth a few more times, they'll be able to pinpoint the trajectory more and see if this big asteroid really will ruin Earth's day in September of 2182 or not.

Thankfully, NASA is keeping its eye on Bennu and running some data to make sure we are safe and sound. Recently, they began testing their DART spacecraft to redirect asteroids in an effort to avoid any disasters with Earth, and they've been pretty successful.

If all else fails, they can cryogenically freeze Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck for when the day comes that they need to send them up into space to save Earth once again...but since they're only actors, let's hope that NASA will have a better plan by then.

25 Hidden Evansville Secrets That May Blow Your Mind

An Evansville resident recently posted a question in the "I Grew Up in Evansville, Indiana" Facebook group asking other members to share any hidden or little-known facts about our city not many residents would know. The answers were wide-ranging, covering everything from our manufacturing history to our place in Civil War, to a couple of popular landmarks still standing today that were the first in the entire state of Indiana. No matter how long you've lived here, chances are there will be a few things on this list you didn't know about the city we call home.

See How Downtown Evansville Has Changed Over the Years

I find looking back on the way things used to be fascinating. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm living through the current time period. The conveniences of answering any question we have in seconds, or ordering practically anything we want or need and having it delivered to our doorstep is pretty sweet. But, there is something fun about seeing how things around us have evolved. As an Evansville native, and spending quite a bit of my time in downtown Evansville (that's where the station is located), I've always appreciated the older architecture of the buildings around the area. So, I dug into the Willard Library Archives to see how a few of those areas look now compared to then. Some have changed a little, others quite a bit, and a few don't even exist any more. Take a look.