Close Asteroid Flyby Will Miss the Earth and Moon by Wide Margin

An asteroid about the size of an aircraft carrier is about to fly past the Earth today making its closest approach.  This large asteroid, known as 2005 YU55 will close to about 200,000 miles of the Earth.  The piece of space rock poses little threat of hitting the Earth, so why all the hype?  Asteroids and space rocks have flown much closer to the Earth quite frequently.  The reason for the hype is that this is the largest one to come this close in over 30 years.

If this rock were to hit the Earth, NASA scientists have stated that the strike would cause an explosion that would equate to a 4000 megaton nuclear blast.  That would be enough to wipe the slate clean on the face of the earth in about a 60 mile radius.

Despite the size and proximity of the space rock, backyard astronomers will need to use a decent optical telescope  to see the rock.  The asteroid will not be visible to the unaided eye.

Geminid Meteor Shower Set to Light up Skies in December 2010

The Geminid Meteor shower is set to peak during the night of December 13th and the morning of the 14th.  The bright flashes of light in the sky produced by the Geminids are thought to originate from an object called 3200 Phaethon, which is more like a rocky comet, than your typical icy comet.  This object is dusty, and as it orbits around the sun in our solar system, it is continually shedding dust and debris.  Thus, debris from 3200 Phaethon  is  able to produce large fireballs as they enter the Earth's atmosphere. The best chances for catching a glimpse of one of these fireballs will be when the Geminid Meteor Shower peaks, with a rate of about 60 per hour during the early morning hours of December 14.

Fireballs over England
The Geminids have been known to produce occasional large fireballs. The meteor shower has been known to start as early as December 6th.  Once such fireball may have been sighted over England the other night.  This bright object flashed across the skies of England and lasted about 5 seconds.  Many news reports have stated that astronomers think thatthe object was about the size of a football when it entered the Earth's atmosphere. Now, it is hard to  say if the fireball seen in England was associated with the Geminids, since there are several weaker meteor showers that are still ongoing during the month of December.  The full extent of the Geminid meteor showers remain much of a mystery since they are not caused by your typical comet.

Obama Proposes Mission to a Near Earth Asteroid

Forgoing the moon, and possibly a mission to Mars, the Obama administration is proposing that NASA launches a manned mission to an asteroid.

A trip out to the middle of our solar system could take up to 6 months, and possible more.  A manned mission will need to bring along a considerable about of life support equipment to make it out that far.  The spacecraft will also need just a much shielding as a craft used for a Mars Mission.

There are many risks in simply plopping down on any old asteroid. The object may not be stable geologically, and there could also be many smaller pieces of space rock orbiting the asteroid that could cause damage to the spacecraft, even a death.

Asteroids have very little gravitational pull and astronauts will not be able the make "one small step for man" once they land there. They will likely be floating tethered to their landing craft, and may slowly drift toward the asteroid as they step off.

The scientific payoffs could be huge.  Scientists could learn about the early composition of the planets.  And the economic payoff could someday be huge if we were ever able to mine the piece of space rock.  One average sized asteroid holds trillions of dollars worth of metal.

Asteroid Hits Earth in 2012?

The premise of the popular 2012 movie is not based on an asteroid striking the earth. But, the movie does touch on the Mayan belief that the world will come to an end due to cataclysmic cosmic events. The movie itself is made up of a bunch of improbable disasters, that are quite physically impossible, in a similiar fashion as events are portrayed in the "The Day After Tomorrow." (Ahh yes, another fine Roland Emmerich flick.)

Could an asteroid take out the planet earth in 2012 instead? That one I will not answer, but there is a really interesting web site provided by NASA that lists Near Earth Objects. The site indicates potential for impact, along with an indicator on how dangerous the objects pose to the earth. The website covers passes by objects with the potential for hitting the earth for about the next hundred years or so. This site does not include yet to be discovered objects, and new ones are occasionally added to the list.

The Near Earth Object site lists 2007 VK184 as the most dangerous known object to the Earth. It is set to pass close by on June 3, 2048. This asteroid has about a 1 in 3400 hundred chance of striking the earth on when it passes by in 2048. This basically means that there is a 99.9% chance that the asteroid will miss us. Whew! By the way, 2007 VK184 is about 130 meters across, so if it does impact the Earth, it could cause significant destruction.

Here the link to the site that lists near earth objects by NASA.

Dawn Spacecraft Enters Asteroid Belt

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has made its way into the asteroid belt and will stay there for the remainder of its mission. Dawn was launched On September 27,2007 and first made entry into the asteroid belt for a brief period in June 2008 for about 40 days. Its orbit then carried the craft out of the belt. Now it will remain within the belt for the remainder of its mission.

The Dawn mission will study these two asteroids to learn about the formation of planets in our solar system. It will be the first ever to orbit two planetary bodies on a single voyage. There are considerable differences between Cera and Vesta. Vesta is thought to be made of rocky material then Ceres has more water bearing minerals and may contain large amounts of ice. Usually, objects that have icy materials are found in the outer reaches of the solar system. Scientists are interested in looking for any links between the formation of our planets, and as well is gaining a better understanding of the geology of these two bodies.

Now Dawn will remain in the belt and will make its way to two of the largest bodies within the belt, Vesta and Ceres. Dawn is expected to reach Vespa in 2011, a little under two years. Then it will depart in 2012 and head for Ceres in 2015.

Near Miss Asteroid

A couple of days ago, asteroid 2009VA whizzed by the earth, coming within 8,700 miles (~14000 km) of the earth. This is the third closest approach of a known asteroid. The space rock was 23 feet across, which is a modest size for an asteroid. In fact, objects of this size are known to strike the earth about once every 5 years. The Tugunska, Siberia impact in 1908 is said to have been caused by an object that was 100 feet across. The Tugunska event wiped out about 1200 square miles of forest.

The Catalina Sky Survey discovered asteroid 2009VA about 15 hours before it made its closest approach. The obit has been calculated by JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, MA. Asteroid 2009VA is moving a little faster then the earth in its orbit, and is now cruising our towards the orbital path of Mars.

It will cross the orbital path of Mars well before Mars arrives. So, both Mars and the Earht have little to fear from this piece of space rock...for now.

Information About Apophis Asteroid

Apophis is an asteroid that will come close to Earth in 2029, and again in 2036. When Apophis passes by the Earth in 2029 there is a 1 in 45,000 chance that this piece of space rock will collide with the Earth. These numbers seem small, but there is a chance that variations in its orbit could still occur in bring those odds down. For example, one estimation states that if Apophis were to strike a geosynchronous satellite during its 2029 pass, then the odds in 2036 will lower to 1 450 chance.

During the pass in 2029 the asteroid will pass close enough to the Earth, that it just may hit a satellite!

Even it if misses, Apophis brought attention to the possibility that catastrophic damage could occur, the possibility of the Earth getting struck at some time in the future cannot be ignored.

Apophis is estimated to be a little over 400 M across. Its name stems from an Egyptian god of the underworld, who is the enemy of Ra. So what kind of damage would this asteroid cause? Estimate vary widely based on where it hits, and what materials the asteroid is made up of. General estimate say that it could cause a 500 megaton blast. This would be 100 times more powerful that the Tunguska blast that hit Siberia in 1909.

Asteroid Tracking From Hawaii

One of four new telescopes to discover and track asteroids will be coming online in Hawaii next month. The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) has the worlds largest digital cameras, measured at 1400 Mega pixels and will be able to take images of large portions of the sky.

The mission of the Pan-STARRS system will be to look for Near Earth Orbiting asteroids and comets (NEOs). These NEOS have potential orbits that may intersect with the Earth. Many of them are still floating around in space and it will be the job of this telescope to find them.

Computer processing will then analyze the images for motion by any asteroids in its field of vision. The cameras on this system will be able to counteract the negative effects that our earth's atmosphere has astro-photography. Gases in the Earth's atmosphere distort images in ordinary telescopes, but these new telescopes will be fitted with chips that help negate these effects.

It is expected that these four telescopes, once they all come online will be able to deliver images far an above your standard earth based telescope. The images will be near Hubble quality.

The Substance of Meteorites

Meteors that impact on the earth are commonly known as meteorites. There are several different types of space rock that fall to earth. A quick search of the internet about the types of meteorites yielded a fruitful harvest of information. I found this meteorite information site and learned the following about what substances make up a meteorite.

The are most common ones are made of stone and resemble earth rocks. They are placed into two sub groups called chondrites and achrondrites. Chrondrites are made up of marble sized silicates that stick together. For larger meteorites, internal pressure and heat may melt these little globules together, forming a crystalline structure. Then the meteorite is known as acrhrondritic meteorites.

Other types of meteorites are stony iron meteorites. These have sub-groups as well known as mesosiderites and pallasites. Then there are silicate iron meteorites, and iron meteorites. These are all made up of iron or nickel in various forms.

There seems to be quite a lot of different types of substances that make up meteorites and asteroids. Then there is icy material that is also found in comets. These appear to be building blocks for the rocky planets found in our solar system. Perhaps one was obliterated early in our solar system's history. Or our asteroids are simply leftovers from the early creation of our solar system. Sort of like the scrap lumber you have left over from building a house.

Source: Meteor Types Page

Fireball Streaks North Across Colorado

Image from the Colorado All-Sky Network?

A bright fireball streaked north across Colorado last Tuesday night that was captured by a number of cameras that monitor for such events. The asteroid was estimated to be about the size of a basketball or a small file cabinet and was presumed to burn completely up upon entry.

The Denver Post posted this information about the meteor. It was also visible in Northwestern Kansas and Nebraska. In these states, a loud sonic boom was heard and the object was reported to have broken up into several pieces as it sped across the skies at about 76,000 miles per hour.

Two interesting Comet Discoveries

A pair of comets have found their way into the Meteor Watch Blog today. One discovery is about a comet that was discovered 150 years ago, the other is about a brand new comet.

The first discovery centers around Comet Tuttle. This one was discovered way back in 1858 by American Astronomer Horace Tuttle. It orbits the sun about every 13.6 years. John Harmon and his team at Areicibo Observatory made radar observations of the comet and found that it is actually made up of two separate bodies that are rotating around each other. The separate bodies are small, measuring 4.5 and 5.6 KM across. The two objects rotate around each other about every 11 and a half hours.

Astronomers have long suspected that Tuttle had a rather unusual shape because the Hubble Telescope was able to detect varying degrees of brightness with time. Now they have specific proof that Tuttle is indeed not onle one oddly shaped comet, but it is also two comets in one.

The other discovery was made by an Itallian astronomer named, Andrea Boattini. He found his fifth comet in less than a year. It will be named P/2008 T1, and will also be known as Boattini T1. Boattini has also discovered 170 asteroids in his career, and is noted for find the closest orbiting asteroid to the sun. Quite an accomplishment!

When the Big One Hits!!

The recent prediction of an approaching asteroid made me wonder what would happen if a really big one was predicted to hit the earth. The last one was discovered only a few hours before it was to make entry into the earth's atmosphere. In addition, it was pretty small and it burned up before every reaching the ground.

It is not a question of if the next one hits, but when. We will get hit again at some point in the future. I wonder how the word will get out next time when the big discovery is made. There are a lot of highly funded operations that are actively searching for asteroids, so it is more than likely that some organization will be the first to discover, and then calculate that the object in question is on a direct collision course to earth. Will the government have the muscle to suppress such information if it is going to be a cataclysmic collision? Will they even try to? My guess is that it will depend on the size of the event. If it is a small to mid sized event, then panic and hysteria caused by evacuations themselves could lead to more loss of life than the impact of the object itself.

I imagine that word of an impending disaster will just leak out through the various news wire's and the internet like the last event did. Then the government will have no choice but to act.

Meteor Arrives Over Africa As Predicted

As predicted the meteor entered the earth's atmosphere over Sudan. A flash was seen over Sudan by several airliners that were in the area, as reported by spaceweather.com shortly before the predicted time.

This marks the first time such an event is predicted in advance. Usually, rocks of this size burn up in the earth's atmosphere several times a year. Smaller ones hit nearly daily. What are the chances a larger one will hit, like the one that created Meteor Crater in Arizona 50,000 years ago?

Small Asteroid To Enter Atmosphere Over Africa

A small asteroid is forecast to enter the earth's atmosphere tonight over Africa. This is only a small rock measuring around 3 to 6 feet in diameter. It is expected to make entry at around 10:46 PM EDT tonight (Monday October 6th). This piece of space rock was found by scientists at Harvard University and will likely will burn up before making contact with the ground. In either case, it will make for a very bright display as it make entry.

What is interesting about this event is that this is the first time in history that scientists have been able to track and asteroid before it makes entry. There are many that are currently being monitored, but so far, that have kept their distance from us.

You can read more about the asteroid over Africa here.

Close Encounters

Near earth asteroids have gained increasing attention in the news media in recent years. Many astronomers lament that there is not enough being done to catalog these objects, and most funding seems to be focused on making the next "big" scientific discovery.

It seems to me that knowing whether the earth is going to be obliterated in the next few days, weeks, or months is pretty important compared to knowing whether a moon on Saturn has geysers. Well, geysers on Eceladus IS pretty neat.

Every once in a while you hear about an asteroid coming close to earth. There also have been quite a few movies about the topic. There is a neat website where you can keep track of whether one of these "potentially hazardous asteroids" are on a collision course with our home planet. It can be found at spaceweather.gov. Luckily, none are foreseen to hit us in the near future. There is a list of new asteroid discoveries that are made by the various sky surveys that are ongoing. There are 2 to 3 new asteroid discoveries every couple of weeks. So who really knows if one will be discovered to be on a collision course. I think we better keep looking...