PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD We have all seen asteroid-hitting-the-Earth movies and the
on-screen devastation they can cause. Scientists at the American Geophysical Union identified an
asteroid that had a greater than two percent change of colliding with
the Earth in 2009. As the researchers tracked it, should the rest of us
have relied on the slightly less than 98 percent change it would not
hit Earth (it didn't) or should we have headed to the bunker?
Space is vast, and as much as we’d like to think so, we are not the center of the universe. There are any number of “near Earth” objects that could potentially start on a collision course with the planet. But only one had even a remote chance of doing that in our lifetime. The 900 foot Apophis asteroid had been given a greater than two percent change of hitting the Earth. The Torino Impact Hazard Scale is a categorization of the threat of impact with an NEO (near Earth object).
On their 0-10 scale, Apophis merited a 4. This indicates that the asteroid “merits attention by astronomers.” Threat level yellow. According to the Torino Scale, “current calculations give a 1 percent or greater chance of collision capable of regional devastation. Most likely, new telescopic observations will lead to re-assignment to Level 0. Attention by public and by public officials is merited if the encounter is less than a decade away.” This is the highest score any NEO has received since observing and tracking began.
It looks now like Apophis will spare Earth, passing 18,300 miles above us. Very close, in astronomical terms. The last time an asteroid hit the Earth, according to researchers, was 65 million years ago. It struck Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and destroyed 85 percent of animal species, including, it is believed, the dinosaurs.
NASA recently sent a satellite into orbit that will help them keep on the lookout for NEOs. Fifteen times a day, it will orbit the Earth and snap an infrared picture every 11 seconds to help scientists locate and estimate the size and density of objects in space. The nine-foot tall, 1,433 pound satellite will take 1.5 million images that will offer a “cosmic clearinghouse of hundreds of millions of objects that will be catalogued and provide a vast storehouse of knowledge about the solar system, the Milky Way and the universe.” They expect to detect brown dwarfs, or failed stars, and planets that are too cool for them to detect from Earth. And maybe an asteroid that is hurdling through space toward us.
For now, though, the sky looks peaceful and we don’t have to brace for impact yet.
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