Asteroid and Meteors galore in this year 2013. While news of an asteroid whizzing by very close to the Earth over the Indian Ocean was viral, reports of meteors falling from the sky high up in the Ural mountains became top headlines. Had the two occurred together one can only imagine and fear the catastrophe of the aftermath. Scientists however reiterate that the two incidents are not connected.
Lets begin with the meteor shower. As millions of unsuspecting Russians drove to work around 9:20 am on the morning of February 15 2013, a meteorite entered the Earth's atmosphere exploding nine times starting at altitudes of 55 kilometers, this was seen as bright showers entering the Earth by people.The meteor was about one third the diameter of the asteroid 2012 DA 14 and eyewitness accounts state that it was brighter than the Sun with a trail blazing for almost 30 seconds before impact.
The Russian military found a crater which was 6 meters wide. The Russian Academy of Science reported that the meteorite weighed 10 tonnes before it entered the Earth's atmosphere. Almost 1000 people are reported to be dead as news of many injured from the glass breaking shards still comes in.
Its surprising though that with modern equipment and technology why the path of the meteorite was not detected. NASA later stated that the trajectory of the asteroid as well as that of the meteor were opposite to each other. While one was travelling North to South the other whizzed past in the opposite direction. Early detection and warnings certainly might have prevented the loss of life.
NASA however had early predictions of the Asteroid DA 14. This was first seen by the Spanish scientists early last year. The Asteroid DA14 went past the Earth's surface almost 27,357 kilometers (23, 230 miles) away and is said to have originated from the solar system's asteroid belt situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Live stream and much hype was related to this astral event as millions attended the event organised by NASA to watch the asteroids path as it whizzed past the Earth's surface.
As of now neither the United States nor Russia have equipment or the technology to prevent a meteor strike . There are ideas as to how to detect and deflect space matter . Some of the more brilliant ones are -
- Using a Robotic Space Vehicle to gently change the path of the asteroid
- Dropping nuclear bombs on the surface or near the asteroid to enable it to change its trajectory
- Trying to melt it
- Cooling it down with solar shields and finally ,
- Flying a spacecraft close to an asteroid, which would exert a gravitational pull.
No comments:
Post a Comment