Asteroids, which in the future may approach the Earth at a distance of 7.5 million km, are considered potentially dangerous to the Earth. Our planet has more than once encountered these cosmic bodies. Today we’ll talk about how dangerous it is that an asteroid will fall to Earth and is there any chance of a major catastrophe in the foreseeable future? And for starters, a little historical background.
What is an asteroid?
An asteroid (from the Greek. "Star-like", "star") is also called a minor planet. It is a celestial body, the size of which exceeds 30 km. Some of them have their own companions. Many asteroids travel through our solar system. 3.5 million years ago, a huge number of asteroids fell to Earth, which led to global change.
Traces of an ancient asteroid
In the spring of 2016 in Australia, geologists discovered traces of the fall of an asteroid, whose diameter was about 30-40 km. That is, in size it is commensurate with a small satellite. The fall caused an 11-point earthquake, tsunami, and massive destruction. Probably, it was one of the asteroids, as a result of the fall of which on the earth not only the beginnings of life were formed, but also the whole diversity of the biosphere was formed.
There is also an opinion that the mysterious disappearance of dinosaurs occurred due to the fall of a large asteroid on Earth. Although this is just one of many versions ...
It is interesting! The ancient impact crater Chiksulub was formed as a result of a meeting with a meteorite. Its depth once reached 20 km. The fall of the meteorite caused tsunamis and climate change, similar to a nuclear winter. In addition, for up to 16 years on Earth, temperature could drop by 26 degrees.
Chelyabinsk meteorite
The fall of an asteroid to Earth in February 2013 was one of the most discussed incidents not only in Russia, but around the world. The asteroid, whose mass reached 16 tons, partially burned out in the Earth’s atmosphere, but its relatively small part fell near Chelyabinsk, fortunately flying over it.
In that year, he flew over the Ural city, which served as the basis for its name. The body itself turned out to be quite ordinary and consisted of chondrites, but the time and place of its fall aroused interest. None of the asteroids that fell to Earth did this damage, since they did not fall in such proximity to a densely populated area. The mass of the meteorite was 6 tons. Falling into Lake Chebarkul, a meteorite caused broken glass in 7,000 buildings. 112 people were hospitalized with burns, several more people turned to doctors for help. In total, the shock wave covered 6.5 thousand square meters.
The huge damage caused by an asteroid could be much more significant if the heavenly stone did not fall into the water, but onto the land. Fortunately, the fall of the asteroid to the earth did not turn into a large-scale catastrophe.
What is the danger of a large meteorite falling to Earth?
According to scientists, the fall of an asteroid on Earth can cause enormous damage if a body about 1 km in size falls on the Earth’s land. First of all, a funnel with a diameter of about 15 km is formed, this will cause dust to enter the atmosphere. And this, in turn, can lead to large-scale fires. Dust, heating up from the sun, will lower the level of ozone, accelerate chemical reactions in the stratosphere, and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the planet.
Thus, the consequences of the fall of an asteroid on Earth are very serious. The global temperature of the Earth will fall by 8 0 C, causing the ice age. But in order to entail the extinction of mankind, the asteroid must be 10 times larger.
Giant danger
Recently, scientists have found that centaurs should be included in the list of potential threats to our planet - these are giant asteroids, whose diameter is from 50 to 100 km. The gravitational field of other planets every 40-100 thousand years throws them towards our Earth. Their number has now increased dramatically. Is it possible that a giant asteroid will fall to Earth in the near future, scientists are constantly calculating, although calculating the trajectory of a centaur’s fall is a very difficult task.
In addition, the list of potential threats to the Earth includes:
- supervolcanic eruption;
- global pandemic;
- asteroid drop (at 0.00013%);
- nuclear war;
- ecological catastrophy.
Will an asteroid fall to Earth in October 2017?
The main question that currently worries scientists is the danger posed by an asteroid, the size of which is 2 times that of the Chelyabinsk meteorite. It is likely that in October 2017 an event will occur that will cause a much larger scale of disasters than the blow in 2013. Astronomer Judith Rees claims that the diameter of the asteroid reaches 40 km. He was dubbed the object of WF9.
A dangerous celestial body was discovered by scientists in Hawaii back in 2012. That year, it passed at a very close distance from the Earth, and on October 12, 2017, it would approach the distance most dangerous to our planet. Scientists believe that if the asteroid’s fall on Earth really takes place, then the British will be the first to see it.
At the moment, scientists are actively exploring the possibility of a collision. True, the probability of an asteroid falling to Earth is very small and amounts, as the researchers say, to 1 in a million. However, it is still there.
Constant danger
It should be noted that various asteroids of different sizes constantly fly past the Earth. They are potentially dangerous, but very rarely really fall to Earth. So, at the end of 2016, a body flew past Earth at a distance of 2/3 of the distance to the Moon, the size of a small truck.
And January 2017 was marked by the passage of a celestial body, reaching the size of a 10-story building. He flew within 180 thousand km from us.