Save the Date: Giant Asteroid Could Strike Earth on a Tuesday in 2182, Scientists Warn

Don’t make any plans yet for Tuesday, September 24, 2182. It could be a really, really bad day.

Knewz.com has learned that on that day, an asteroid could crash into Earth with the force of 22 atomic bombs.

A mosaic of the asteroid Bennu, which could crash into Earth September 24, 2182. By: MEGA

Scientists already are tracking Bennu, the potentially disastrous asteroid. In fact, they hope to obtain samples from it in the next few days.

Bennu flies past Earth every six years. During one of its last close encounters, NASA sent a spacecraft to get pieces of it.

“It feels very much like the last few miles of a marathon, with a confluence of emotions like pride and joy coexisting with a determined focus to complete the race well,” Rich Burns with the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland said.

Britain’s Sunday Telegraph noted Bennu is as big as the Empire State Building. It’s about one-third of a mile wide.

New York’s Empire State Building stands 1,250 feet tall. By: MEGA

That’s puny compared with the asteroid that some scientists blame for the death of dinosaurs. That one was believed to be about 20 times wider.

But if Bennu hits Earth directly, scientists say it could leave a crater six miles wide. Collateral damage could extend 600 miles in every direction from there.

So NASA is taking this seriously. A capsule containing samples from the 2020 NASA flight to Bennu should land in the Utah desert Sunday, September 24 for analysis.

NASA hopes to prevent a large asteroid from crashing into Earth. By: NASA.gov

That could lead to a plan to steer Bennu’s course.

But a big blow from Bennu is not a sure thing. Britain’s Daily Star reports the odds of a collision in September 2182 are one in 2,700.

That means you’re more than twice as likely to hit a “Cash 3” lottery drawing exactly.

The chances of Bennu hitting Earth by 2300 are better, at one in 1,750.

According to Earth.com, NASA did not notice Bennu until 1999. Astronomers first called it “1999 RQ36.”

The name Bennu came from a 9-year-old in North Carolina, based on a bird god in ancient Egypt.

A statue of the Egyptian Benu-bird god, from which the Bennu asteroid was named. By: MEGA

Knewz noted earlier in September that asteroids fly past Earth on a regular basis. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory keeps an online “Asteroid Watch” that tracks them.

In fact, the lineup for Monday, September 18 had five of them. Four were the size of an airplane, with the biggest estimated at 130 feet wide.

But none of the asteroids currently on NASA’s radar are as close to Earth as Bennu could come.

The closest encounter on September 18 was expected to be 535,000 miles away.