Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Sept 4, 2020 17:05:34 GMT 2
(.#513).- An asteroid that will graze us, Nasa is testing its "planetary defense" system.
This asteroid that will graze us will allow NASA to test its "planetary defense" system
August 1, 2017
By Grégory Rozières
Archives
2012 CT4 will pass not far from Earth in October. The opportunity to improve our ability to detect these large stones.
NASA
SPACE - In a few months, NASA will study carefully the asteroid 2012 TC4, which is fast approaching the blue planet. Do not worry, the big pebble 10 to 30 meters in diameter will not crash on Earth. Just graze it. It will especially allow "to test the network of observatories and scientists working on planetary defense", the agency said on July 28.
October 12, 2012 TC4 will pass very close to Earth. The asteroid could graze us some 6,800 km away. It has no chance of crashing, and that's good, because if it is not that big, it is still a little more imposing than the meteorite that crashed in Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 and caused quite a bit of damage.
But TC4 could just as easily pass some 270,000 km from Earth, or 2/3 of the distance separating us from the Moon. And that's the problem: this asteroid, like many others, is little known to scientists. It was actually observed only once: in 2012, for a week, just after its discovery.
Understanding these objects better is the objective of NASA's "planetary defense coordination office". The purpose of this one is to reference all the asteroids which border the Earth and to calculate their future orbits, to be certain that they do not represent a danger for the blue planet. Because certainly, 90% of the asteroids which represent a risk of extinction of humanity (more than a kilometer in diameter) are listed. And the risks of annihilation of the human species within 100 years are less than 0.01%.
Better understand (and if not, destroy)
But this is not the case for the little ones, who can however cause serious damage. Thus, the American agency thinks that only 30% of meteors of 160 meters and more are listed. For those 30 meters, we go to 1%. In addition, if we know the trajectory of the asteroids listed fairly well, it can also change, depending on several phenomena.
Hence the importance of the observation of TC4. In the coming weeks, large telescopes will scan the asteroid to better characterize it. This represents "a dozen observatories and universities all over the surface of the globe that will collectively get to know better the strengths and limitations of our ability to observe these near-Earth objects," says the agency.
But if the NASA planetary defense office is primarily there to study asteroids, its members also have the objective of "developing techniques to deflect or redirect potentially dangerous objects". Researchers all over the world are already thinking about several techniques, from the gravitational tractor to the nuclear bomb.
F I N .
This asteroid that will graze us will allow NASA to test its "planetary defense" system
August 1, 2017
By Grégory Rozières
Archives
2012 CT4 will pass not far from Earth in October. The opportunity to improve our ability to detect these large stones.
NASA
SPACE - In a few months, NASA will study carefully the asteroid 2012 TC4, which is fast approaching the blue planet. Do not worry, the big pebble 10 to 30 meters in diameter will not crash on Earth. Just graze it. It will especially allow "to test the network of observatories and scientists working on planetary defense", the agency said on July 28.
October 12, 2012 TC4 will pass very close to Earth. The asteroid could graze us some 6,800 km away. It has no chance of crashing, and that's good, because if it is not that big, it is still a little more imposing than the meteorite that crashed in Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 and caused quite a bit of damage.
But TC4 could just as easily pass some 270,000 km from Earth, or 2/3 of the distance separating us from the Moon. And that's the problem: this asteroid, like many others, is little known to scientists. It was actually observed only once: in 2012, for a week, just after its discovery.
Understanding these objects better is the objective of NASA's "planetary defense coordination office". The purpose of this one is to reference all the asteroids which border the Earth and to calculate their future orbits, to be certain that they do not represent a danger for the blue planet. Because certainly, 90% of the asteroids which represent a risk of extinction of humanity (more than a kilometer in diameter) are listed. And the risks of annihilation of the human species within 100 years are less than 0.01%.
Better understand (and if not, destroy)
But this is not the case for the little ones, who can however cause serious damage. Thus, the American agency thinks that only 30% of meteors of 160 meters and more are listed. For those 30 meters, we go to 1%. In addition, if we know the trajectory of the asteroids listed fairly well, it can also change, depending on several phenomena.
Hence the importance of the observation of TC4. In the coming weeks, large telescopes will scan the asteroid to better characterize it. This represents "a dozen observatories and universities all over the surface of the globe that will collectively get to know better the strengths and limitations of our ability to observe these near-Earth objects," says the agency.
But if the NASA planetary defense office is primarily there to study asteroids, its members also have the objective of "developing techniques to deflect or redirect potentially dangerous objects". Researchers all over the world are already thinking about several techniques, from the gravitational tractor to the nuclear bomb.
F I N .
