Published 15:44 IST, February 27th 2020
Video of asteroids casually floating around solar system terrifies the internet
A captivating video crafted by Spanish 3D artist Alvaro Gracia Montoyo, has laid bare the shocking scale of the largest asteroids in the Solar System.
A captivating video posted by Spanish 3D artist Alvaro Gracia Montoyo, has absolutely terrified the internet. The video shows two large rocks, the size of New York City, floating casually in the solar system. The MetaBallStudios posted the 3D animation to Youtube earlier this month.
It provides a look at the exceptional asteroids and begins by comparing a human to one of the minor planets, before exposing their enormity. In the video, a total of 22 asteroids can be seen lined up in order of size against a grey silhoutte of New York.
The terrifying asteroids
The video shows the asteroids ranging from the mini space rock 2008 TC3, which is only double the height of the average man, around 4.1 meters in diameter, to the asteroid 99942 Apophis which is 370 meters in diameter. It is followed all the way by Ceres, which is 939km in diameter.
As the video continues, the asteroids and objects they are compared to, get larger. In the beginning of the video, space rocks are placed adjacent to silhouettes of the Eiffel Tower and New York City. Asteroids Apophis and Hermes reportedly have been branded as ''potentially dangerous'' by NASA. Hermes, which is 2,600ft long, has come ''harrowingly close'' to Earth several times over the past century, as stated by the space agency. Paul Chodas of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab, said in 2003, "It's a little unnerving, Hermes has sailed by Earth so many times and we didn't even know it."
The video further shows, Ceres, drifting between Mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt, which, owing to its big size, can technically be called a dwarf planet. As the camera pans out in the video, New York becomes a small patch on the Earth's surface. This video of exceptional asteroids that are casually floating in the Solar System, is indeed terrifying.
Here are some reactions on the video. A user wrote, ''2020 : hope that Ceres will not hit earth 2080 : "Ceres has joined the server". Another user wrote, ''So Ceres and Hygia are you dwarf planets or Asteroids?''. One of the user commented, ''Ceres has so much mass that he become a sphere because of the gravitation, he is like a mini planet or a moon.''
Updated 15:44 IST, February 27th 2020