![]() “We’ve been able to go into orbit, we’ve been able to leave orbit, and we’ve been able to get into a variety of shooting angles.” “The spacecraft’s trajectory was really amazing - I compared it to a hummingbird,” said Dante Loretta, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator and author of the new research, during the press conference. Throughout that time, the spacecraft has been constantly recording its position in relation to Earth and the asteroid. Using this data, the team behind the new research was able to improve their understanding of the location and movement of space rocks for about two and a half years. The spacecraft’s visit to the asteroid reached its climax in October 2020, when OSIRIS-REx snatched a sample of Bennu to stash away. In May, the spacecraft and its precious payload said goodbye to the asteroid and returned to Earth, where OSIRIS-REx will deposit the capsule sample in September 2023. The Chicxulub impactor that killed the dinosaurs was one of these.The delivery will give scientists a rare opportunity to study asteroid material using all the advanced equipment ground-based laboratories must offer.īut scientists don’t need to get their hands on that sample to dig into spacecraft observations for two and a half years. Gigantic planet-wide destruction, mass extinction, enormous crater. ![]() ![]() Tunguska impact that hit a remote part of Russia in 1908 was one of these. 15 was estimated to be 15 meters across.Įnormous burst in air, leveling large area, equivalent to a thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. Moderate burst in air, some fragments may reach ground. Tiny burst in air, no piece reaches ground These days, very large impacts are not expected to happen more than once every few million years. Because of the constant churning of the Earth's mantle that devours old crust, only about 160 surviving impact craters remain on the planet's surface. But most of these asteroids hit early in our planet's history, when the solar system was young and rogue space rocks far more common. Throughout its 4-billion-year history, the Earth has been hit by millions of asteroids, many over 1 kilometer in diameter and capable of widespread havoc. Most asteroids burn up in the atmosphere long before they hit the ground and the few that do will probably hit open ocean or a remote part of the Earth rather than your head. You are far more likely to die in an earthquake, tornado, flood, airplane crash, or car crash ( but less likely to be killed by lightning). Your odds of getting killed by a meteorite are roughly 1 in 250,000. While rocks raining from space are scary and there is no way to completely eliminate their threat, they are also thankfully sporadic. That a substantial meteorite hit the Earth on the same day as a 50-meter asteroid is making a record-breaking (and completely safe) close pass, that people have been thinking more and more about how to deflect potentially killer space rocks, or that we live in a day and age when dozens of videos of a fairly rare event can be uploaded to the internet and instantly seen worldwide. ![]() It's hard to know what's stranger about the event. It was the largest meteorite to hit the country in more than a century. The 15-meter meteorite impacted the atmosphere and exploded above the Chelyabinsk region of central Russia, injuring an estimated 1,200 people and causing roughly 1 billion rubles ($33 million U.S.) in damage. woke up to a spectacular sight this morning: videos from Russian dashboard cameras showing a fireball in the sky crashing down to the Earth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |