March 14, 2012 12:04 PM

Nuclear bomb could save Earth from asteroid

An artist's illustration of a large asteroid headed for Earth. (ESA)

(Space.com) A well-placed nuclear explosion could actually save humanity from a big asteroid hurtling toward Earth, just like in the movies, a new study suggests.
Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a United States Department of Energy facility in New Mexico, used a supercomputer to model nukes' anti-asteroid effectiveness. They attacked a 1,650-foot-long (500-meter) space rock with a 1-megaton nuclear weapon - about 50 times more powerful than the U.S. blast inflicted on Nagasaki, Japan, to help end World War II.

MORE: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57397217/nuclear-bomb-could-save-earth-from-asteroid/

gaw

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