By Kyle Nguyen
Recently, scientists used the Hubble Telescope to study an asteroid called 16 Psyche with an estimated worth of $10 quintillion. The asteroid is believed to be an underdeveloped planet core and studying it could help scientists understand more about the Earth’s core.
16 Psyche is one of the biggest objects in the asteroid belt at 140 miles wide. Scientists believe that it is mostly composed of iron and nickel, which could make it highly valuable.
Some students think that taking the asteroid from space could be beneficial.
“I think that the government should do everything in their power to get ahold of the asteroid even if it’s just a part so that we can potentially pay off national debt along with other stuff,” senior Taylor Williams said.
Senior Jayden Pham agrees with Williams’ sentiments.
“The asteroid has the potential of holding a lot of different minerals and goods that could be harvested from it. So it being that expensive could be good for the world,” Pham said.
Although the asteroid could help the world’s economy immensely, it has been stated that it cannot be brought back to Earth. This is mainly due to the fact that humans don’t have the knowledge or equipment to move it around in space. Even if there is equipment available to move asteroids or take pieces of it, it’s important to remember the size of the asteroid.
Scientists are using ultraviolet rays on the asteroid and learned that it became brighter in a way that is similar to when sunlight is reflected off of iron.
“[A]s we went deeper into the UV, we started to see the asteroid get brighter, which is pretty rare,” Tracy Becker, planetary scientists and lead author of the study, said.
NASA has announced that it will be sending an unmanned spacecraft to the asteroid in 2022 to further study it. NASA has also said that it will take pictures of the asteroid and release them to the public.
