Asteroid 1998 OR2 will pass at a safe distance, at some 4 million miles (6 million km), or about 16 times the Earth-moon distance. According to current estimates, it’s probably a bit over a mile wide (2 km) and maybe twice that long.

No chance of a hit then but if it did .....

By the time you get up to a mile-wide asteroid, you are working in the 1 million megaton range. An asteroid this size has the energy that's 10 million times greater than the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. It's able to flatten everything for 100 to 200 miles out from ground zero.

In other words, if a mile-wide asteroid were to directly hit New York City, the force of the impact probably would completely flatten every single thing from Washington D.C. to Boston, and would cause extensive damage perhaps 1,000 miles out -- that's as far away as Chicago.

The amount of dust and debris thrown up into the atmosphere would block out the sun and cause most living things on the planet to perish.

If an asteroid that big were to land in the ocean, it would cause massive tidal waves hundreds of feet high that would completely scrub the coastlines in the vicinity.

In other words, if an asteroid strikes Earth, it will be a really, really bad day no matter how big it is. If the asteroid is a mile in diameter, it's likely to wipe out life on the planet.

No chance of a hit then but if it did .....

A bit scary, Cinders.
One day I fear one of these will get us, and that'll be our lot.

A bit scary, Cinders.
One day I fear one of these will get us, and that'll be our lot.

I wonder if all the stuff floating in space around earth is all just for communication. Would governments not even bother saving our planet? Do wealthy individuals have a plan to live in space?