"A plume erupts from Dimorphos as the DART mission impacts the asteroid moonlet in this artist’s concept. Such kinetic impacts are one way an asteroid might be deflected — but a new study suggests nuclear bombs could also be effective. Credit: ESA" (Astronomy.com /Nuclear bombs really could deflect asteroids, lab tests suggest) Sometimes people say that nuclear explosions will break the large asteroid into pieces. The fact is that the 500-meter asteroid causes less damage if it is in smaller pieces than in one large piece. But a large group of small asteroids can cause terrible damage in another way than some large asteroids, which can make large impact craters and megatsunamis. Asteroid debris can destroy large numbers of satellites. Large groups of small asteroids can raise the temperature in the planet's atmosphere. In the worst scenarios, those asteroids or their impact energy turn the atmosphere glowing hot. That can be an extremely dangerous situation. The asteroid