Killer Asteroids – Lessons from Asteroid TC3

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Killer Asteroids – Lessons from Asteroid TC3
Posted under Telescopes For Beginners by admin on Friday 10 September 2010 at 9:38 AM

Like something from a science fiction novel. A huge asteroid fall to the ground and threatens to destroy everything in its path. Well, in this case was not a pulp novel, but a real asteroid to a direct confrontation with the planet. In this case, the asteroid in question "TC3 hit" is not actually the earth's surface, instead of breaking into the atmosphere over Sudan 7th October this year. The asteroid hit the atmosphere corresponds to a liberating forceKilotons of explosives, a pretty impressive sight, if by chance the good fortune to see him on the field. The rest of us can see video clips of the line impact earth orbiting satellites over. This was closely followed 17th October through what was believed to be a real impact around the remote communities of the West Wallace Rock Hole Alice Springs, Australia NT. In this case, residents pointed lights, felt the sound of an explosion and a concussion of the earth. TheAustralian Government Department of Earth Sciences Geoscience Australia has confirmed that it was almost certainly a meteorite.

Although no one was in these incidents, violated what if a much larger asteroid was hit on the Earth? The damage could be devastating, especially when the asteroid was land in a populated region. As we can see, asteroid / Earth collisions are not just limited to the realm of science fiction, but can and must be done. Although there is relativelyrare that an asteroid is large enough to make it through the Earth's atmosphere without burning, a certainty that one day will happen.

The prospect of a catastrophic event linked with an asteroid colliding with Earth can not keep us all night, but the danger is real and there is no research being done to protect the planet from such a disaster. The probability of a collision with an asteroid or comet large enough to be in the near future a few, but bearmentioned that after the American National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA), currently there are nearly a thousand different objects (both asteroids and comets), which are classified as a PHA (potentially hazardous asteroids).

Classification PHA includes objects that take a very low probability of ever the earth, but there are plenty of dangers for the planet as close call TC3 with Africa has a greater public interest in the topic of planetary stimulatedDefense. The first official conference on planetary defense was last winter in Washington DC and served as a forum for astronomers, astrophysicists and other experts to develop strategies that studies in order to protect the earth from a possible future effects of asteroid discuss. Another conference (the first of the International Academy of Astronauts place) is to perform in the spring of 2009 and in the continuing discussions on issues of global commitment involvedDefense.

It is already known that the impact of an event with an asteroid or comet can be absolutely devastating. There were scattered impact event in recorded human history, but no further back in 1908 look at the so-called Tunguska. A large area near the Tunguska River, a remote area in Siberia, was largely beyond the air of a comet or asteroid flattened decay in flight over the area. That's right, never the subjectSurface but caused such devastation. Twenty years later, when photographed by Leonid Kulik expedition in the area, the damage was still clearly – were intact forests flattened as if a giant hand. And all this was caused by an object estimated to cause no more than 100-200 meters in diameter.

The need for some type of planetary defense strategy is obvious: If a relatively small as seen in the complete destruction caused Tunguska objectWhat would happen if a large object was traveling for a collision with a densely populated area? Even a Tunguska-size object would be enough to destroy most of a large metropolitan area. The result would be a tragedy, perhaps unprecedented in the history of mankind.

During the development of an effective system of planetary defense is still years away, probably some years away, which now has the technology to see the sky and be advised by frequent reports about the possible impact event. We know thatProbability of each type of impact events is low in the near future – hopefully this will protect humanity complacent about the need to do to us and our planet from such events. The great interest of the public at events like the recent collision with the TC3 can put the attention on actions to be taken to help protect against the risks of rare but devastating events impacts of asteroids and comets.