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darkstar
26249 Posts |
 Posted - 10/28/2009 : 06:39:24 AM
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Picture this: A 10-meter wide asteroid hits Earth and explodes in the atmosphere with the energy of a small atomic bomb. Frightened by thunderous sounds and shaking walls, people rush out of their homes, thinking that an earthquake is in progress. All they see is a twisting trail of debris in the mid-day sky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeQBzTkJNhs&videos=jkRJgbXY-90
This really happened on Oct. 8th around 11 am local time in the coastal town of Bone, Indonesia. The Earth-shaking blast received remarkably little coverage in Western press, but meteor scientists have given it their full attention. "The explosion triggered infrasound sensors of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) more than 10,000 km away," report researchers Elizabeth Silber and Peter Brown of the Univ. of Western Ontario in an Oct. 19th press release. Their analysis of the infrasound data revealed an explosion at coordinates 4.5S, 120E (close to Bone) with a yield of about 50 kton of TNT. That's two to three times more powerful than World War II-era atomic bombs. WOW!
The asteroid that caused the blast was not known before it hit and took astronomers completely by surprise.(WTF?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!) According to statistical studies of the near-Earth asteroid population, such objects are expected to collide with Earth on average every 2 to 12 years. "Follow-on observations from other instruments or ground recovery efforts would be very valuable in further refining this unique event," say Silber and Brown. |
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dorsini
135 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2009 : 07:17:33 AM
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I actually just watched something on the discovery channel about NASA and their Near Earth Object program a few weeks back. NASA and other agencies whose never ending job it is to attempt to track the infinite number of objects in space that could potentially hit us have narrowed down there search for what we would probably call Apocalyptic objects; in other words rocks big enough to on the low end substantially change our way of life on earth to the high end of full out extinction of the human race. They are currently trying to locate all objects that have any chance of hitting us that are 1 km in size or larger. It was really cool to hear some of their ideas on how we divert these objects from hitting us if we discover they are on a collision course with us.
Anyway, it is typically accepted that anything smaller than 100 meters will likely burn up upon entry in our atmosphere or slow down enough to where any impact would be minimal. So it kind of sounds like this is what happened here. I don’t think this particular scenario is all that uncommon. Although, still very cool and kind of scary. |
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darkstar
26249 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2009 : 07:27:47 AM
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I get a daily update on what they've spotted here:
http://spaceweather.com/
Mid page you'll see a graph, you can click on them which will take you to a java app that allows you to see it's path and proximity to the earth...The one showing .9LD as Miss Distance would look cool and you can see how close it really is! |
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darkstar
26249 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2009 : 08:35:52 AM
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Recent near miss with 15hrs notice:
ASTEROID NEAR MISS: On Nov. 6th at 2132 UT, asteroid 2009 VA barely missed Earth when it flew just 8700 miles above the planet's surface. That's well inside the "Clarke Belt" of geosynchronous satellites. If it had hit, the 6-meter wide space rock would have disintegrated in the atmosphere as a spectacular fireball, causing no significant damage to the ground. 2009 VA was discovered just 15 hours before closest approach by astronomers working at the Catalina Sky Survey. |
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assassin17
7830 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2009 : 09:03:46 AM
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| I wonder who keeps throwing these rocks at our house. If I find out, I'm gonna go over and give them a piece of my mind. |
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homebroker@sbcgl
7357 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2009 : 6:12:59 PM
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Yea they send Bruce Willis to save the day?
quote:
Originally posted by dorsini
It was really cool to hear some of their ideas on how we divert these objects from hitting us if we discover they are on a collision course with us.
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homebroker@sbcgl
7357 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2009 : 9:12:59 PM
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Here is a good story you will enjoy...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/07/BARG1AGV38.DTL |
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darkstar
26249 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2009 : 04:10:04 AM
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WEEKEND FIREBALLS: On Saturday, Nov. 7th, just as the sun was setting over San Francisco Bay, a brilliant meteor glided across the sky and disappeared into the sunset. Witnesses say it was "slow-moving," "white and green," and that it left behind "a trail of smoke and sparkles of debris." The fireball was gone before most photographers had a chance to raise their cameras, but several people managed to capture the lingering trail of debris:
Gwen Wagy took this picture out the window of a car in Marina, Califonia. "The twisting trail resembled a noctilucent cloud," notes husband Chris.
Picture: http://tinyurl.com/yfbqevz (terrestial chemtrail!)
Meteor expert Peter Jenniskens of NASA's Ames Research Center believes the fireball was "a small asteroid that crashed into our atmosphere. The remains [of the space rock] probably landed in the Pacific Ocean."
Another possibility is that the fireball was a piece of periodic Comet 2P/Encke. Every year around this time, Earth passes through a stream of debris from the comet, and the encounter causes meteors to shoot out of the constellation Taurus. "The Taurid shower is definitely active," notes Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Our all-sky cameras have been picking up a couple of Taurid fireballs every night." At the time of the Bay Area fireball, the constellation Taurus was rising in the east, so a Taurid identification is not yet out of the question. |
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GetLoans4me
2690 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2009 : 08:43:53 AM
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| let the asteroid hit afghanistan |
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clydesnodgrass
772 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2009 : 09:36:44 AM
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| NASA downgraded Apohpis a couple of weeks ago quite a bit. They reanalyzed it's trajectory and the chances of it hitting us now are extremely thin... I don't remember the statistics, but less than 1/100th of a percent I believe. |
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