Destructive Asteroid Impacts Near Earth are Far More Common Than Previously Thought (VIDEO)

First Posted: Apr 23, 2014 07:17 AM EDT

When you think of threats to cities and towns, your mind might automatically go to the problem of crime or even climate change. Yet there may be another threat that we haven't considered: asteroid impacts. According to the B612 Foundation, the threat of destructive asteroid impacts is about three to 10 times higher than previously thought.

The B612 Foundation was started by astronauts and scientists. It actually aims to predict and prevent dangerous asteroid impacts to Earth. The foundation has developed several concepts for deflecting asteroids, but the problem is predicting strikes in time in order to implement these methods. That's why the foundation wishes to launch a space telescope called "Sentinel" in order to track potentially deadly asteroids and near-Earth objects.

In order to highlight their mission, the group actually held a press conference yesterday during Earth Day. At the time, they released a graphic that showed over two dozen locations where asteroids have impacted Earth, exploding with the force of at least one atomic bomb, according to CNET. Needless to say, an impact like this could be devastating to cities, especially when you take into account that almost none of these impacts were detected before they slammed into Earth.

Of course, this is assuming that the asteroid actually makes it to the ground. The impacts that the graphic shows actually highlights those that "detonated" in our planet's atmosphere. This kept damage from occurring on the ground.

You might dismiss the problem, but there's always the chance that one of these asteroids might reach the ground. The International Monitoring System (IMS), overseen by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), has actually detected shock waves from many airbursts, proving that asteroids impacts are far more frequent than thought, according to Space.com. If one of these asteroids did manage to impact Earth, the results could be devastating.

Want to see the impacts for yourself? You can check them out in the video below, courtesy of the B612 Foundation.