2019行星撞地球，是真的！

Astronomers say they can now spot previously unknown Earth-bound asteroids early enough to evacuate potential impact sites.

天文學家說，他們現(xiàn)在能夠更早地發(fā)現(xiàn)以前未知的地球小行星，從而疏散潛在的撞擊地點。

2019 MO is only four metres across, but was detected barreling towards the Earth when it was 500,000km away- about 30 percent further than the moon - according to the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, which operates space telescopes on the remote state's Big Island and Maui.

夏威夷大學天文研究所稱，在夏威夷偏遠的大島和毛伊島使用太空望遠鏡觀測天文時，在距離地球50萬公里(比月球遠30%)外的太空，探測到一顆直徑4米的小行星MO，正沖向地球。

(Photo credit: Institute for Astronomy)

Initial analysis suggested a collision with Earth was possible, and when astronomers discovered a second telescope had picked it up, they determined it was likely.

根據(jù)最初的分析，與地球相撞的幾率是有的，當天文學家用第二架望遠鏡觀測到它時，他們肯定了相撞的預測。

Twelve hours later on June 22, something slammed into the atmosphere just south of San Juan, Puerto Rico - matching where the astronomers had predicted it would hit.

12個小時后的6月22日，波多黎各圣胡安南部的一顆小行星撞上了大氣層，與天文學家預測的撞擊位置相符。

2019 MO harmlessly exploded in the atmosphere with a force of five kilotons, about a third the size of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in World War II, space news site EarthSky reported. The impact was picked up by weather satellites and an infrasound monitoring station in Bermuda.

據(jù)太空新聞網(wǎng)站EarthSky報道，2019年，MO在大氣層中以5000噸的力量爆炸，大約相當于二戰(zhàn)期間廣島原子彈的三分之一，沒有造成任何傷害。這次撞擊是由氣象衛(wèi)星和百慕大的一個次聲監(jiān)測站探測到的。