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According to this article, an asteroid came dangerously close to the Earth. The asteroid was roughly the size of a football field.

What would the result of this asteroid be if it had impacted square on the Earth's surface? If negligible, at what mass does an asteroid impact become critical?

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Asteroid 2019 OK is about the size of a football field, and was travelling about 54,379 miles per hour, with closest approach of about 44,300 miles. If it would have hit Earth it would have been a city killer, with about 30 times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb.

  • Where do you get 30 times from? Seems to me, assuming a mass of 10^9 kg, it would be more like 10000 times. – Ben51 Sep 21 '19 at 03:42
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    @Ben51: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_OK#Potential_impact_effects and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDBpThe8Ns at about 1:40 – Adrian Howard Sep 21 '19 at 04:40