Coastal UK residents at ‘high risk’ of deadly asteroid tsunami, scientists warn
Britain is at “very high risk” of an asteroid tsunami that could kill hundreds of thousands of people living near the coastline, scientists have warned.
Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed software capable of predicting where asteroids are likely to fall.
Scientists found that although Britain is unlikely to be hit directly by an asteroid, it is at risk of deadly waves caused by an asteroid impact in the Atlantic or North Sea.
The announcement coincides with World Asteroid Day, an event co-founded by Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Dr. Brian May to raise awareness about the importance of monitoring space rocks.
Experts are currently aware of 500 asteroids in the solar system with the potential to strike Earth. While a total of 13,000 have been discovered and logged, there are thought to be a million asteroids in the solar system.
PhD student Clemens Rumpf has developed a software program called ARMOR, which calculates the risk of asteroids hitting Earth and their likely site of impact.
Britain was found to be at high risk of an asteroid tsunami because it is an island with lots of coastline.