REVIEW RSS FEED
ASTEROID COMES CLOSE TO EARTH; COULD HAVE HAD IMPACT OF THREE HIROSHIMA BOMBS
New Scientist - As the US government ponders a strategy to deal with threatening asteroids, a dramatic explosion over Indonesia has underscored how blind we still are to hurtling space rocks.
On 8 October an asteroid detonated high in the atmosphere above South Sulawesi, Indonesia, releasing about as much energy as 50,000 tons of TNT, according to a NASA estimate. That's about three times more powerful than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima, making it one of the largest asteroid explosions ever observed.
However, the blast caused no damage on the ground because of the high altitude, 15 to 20 kilometers above Earth's surface, says astronomer Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario, Canada. . .
The amount of energy released suggests the object was about 10 meters across, the researchers say. Such objects are thought to hit Earth about once per decade.
On 8 October an asteroid detonated high in the atmosphere above South Sulawesi, Indonesia, releasing about as much energy as 50,000 tons of TNT, according to a NASA estimate. That's about three times more powerful than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima, making it one of the largest asteroid explosions ever observed.
However, the blast caused no damage on the ground because of the high altitude, 15 to 20 kilometers above Earth's surface, says astronomer Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario, Canada. . .
The amount of energy released suggests the object was about 10 meters across, the researchers say. Such objects are thought to hit Earth about once per decade.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home