Information on Humans Cannot Avoid Asteroid Impacts on Earth

Will the Earth be hit by another asteroid(1)

The news that the media had reported that an asteroid numbered 2000QWT was close to hitting the Earth on September 1, 2000, and that astronomers had discovered that there were at least 900 other small celestial bodies that could endanger the Earth, has aroused the concern of many people about their survival home and their own destiny.

Planetary experts at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published an article pointing out that the 900 asteroids threatening the Earth were indeed real, but this in no way indicates that the probability of the Earth being endangered will increase. On the contrary, this shows that mankind has gradually mastered the operation of the asteroid law and whereabouts. In the rapid development of science and technology today, mankind has the ability to control their own destiny, can completely avoid the asteroid impact on the Earth's vicious events.

Scientists also said that although the 900 asteroids are not a serious threat to the Earth at this time, but must also cause astronomers to pay close attention, because if the asteroids are really going to hit the Earth, the harm caused by its is really huge.

Let's take a look at the comet-wood collision that took place in our solar system a few years ago. on July 16, 1994, a comet named "Sumac-Levy 9" was broken into 21 pieces, and then slammed into Jupiter at a speed of 60 kilometers per second, with one piece having a diameter of only 4,000 meters. Arrangement for the G pieces hit Jupiter, the sky of fire reached more than 1,600 kilometers, scorching heat in an instant rose to more than 30,000 degrees Celsius, was destroyed by the area of Jupiter is equivalent to 80% of the Earth.

The once-in-a-lifetime comet-wood collision scene is very spectacular, the comet debris has been continued until September 1994 to Jupiter bombardment is completed, the whole process of the release of energy equivalent to 2 billion atomic bomb explosion produced by the energy, but we find it hard to believe that these giant bombs are made of dust, rocks and broken ice and other substances irregular "dirty"! "snowballs.

Years have passed since the collision, but what kind of thoughts are left for us Earthlings to ponder? How would the collision have ended if it had happened on Earth? Has Earth ever experienced a similar collision?

Let's think about the dinosaurs, behemoths that dominated the planet for hundreds of millions of years but disappeared in a very short period of time.

The planetary impact 65 million years ago caused widespread earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions across the globe, leaving the skies above the Earth covered in a blanket of darkness, and dust circling the sky for five years. Temperatures were extremely high in the run-up to the impact and then dropped for a long time, causing photosynthesis in green plants to stop, which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and more than 80 percent of all living things.

In 1998, scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found large quantities of the chromium isotope CY-53 in sediments located in Denmark and Spain at the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs.

This metal was formed when radioactive manganese completely decayed hundreds of millions of years ago, and since this isotope is disappearing from our solar system, it is very rare, and so it can be determined that most of it must have come from outside the Earth. Therefore, it can be concluded that most of the chromium isotopes must have come from outside the Earth, which means that this is the "evidence" of a planetary impact. In addition, scientists have found that chromium isotopes in sediments are identical to those found in carbon-rich meteorites, which confirms the hypothesis that the extinction of the dinosaurs on Earth 65 million years ago was caused by an asteroid impact on the planet.

According to research and analysis by geologists, about 250 million years ago, another small object that almost killed the Earth fell to Earth. The object passed diagonally through the center of the Earth from above the Pacific Ocean, forcing the Tibetan Plateau in western China to bulge severely under the immense pressure of the collision and causing multiple fracture zones to form across the land. The original North America, South America, Antarctica, Africa, and Europe were joined together 300 million years ago, and it was only due to the planet's impact, which forced the plates to drift horizontally, that today's geography was formed.

According to a July 1988 report in Science Magazine, Dr. Cate of the University of California's Institute of Geoplanetary Physics found yet another mound of debris on the South Pacific seafloor from an asteroid impact on the Earth, this time occurring about 2.3 million years ago. This was the stage when Earth's glaciation began, and the violent impact caused a massive amount of seawater to be swept into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun and causing a global cooling of the planet.

Planets collide with each other inevitably, and the Earth has experienced at least a few billion impacts by extraterrestrial bodies in recorded history. It's just that right now humans can't confirm the exact times and associated geographic locations of their occurrences and the consequences they have had. Scientists estimate that there are about 150,000 or more impact craters larger than 800 meters in diameter on Earth. In addition we can clearly see through astronomical telescopes and photographs brought back by spacecraft that planets such as the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and others are covered with thousands of craters, which are mostly traces left by the impact of other celestial bodies.

Scientists have found that the dark nebulae in the universe are collections of nebulae with large masses and very low temperatures, according to radio astronomical observations. There are more than 5,000 nebulae there, with a mass about 500,000 times that of the sun. In recent years, two scientists from the British Observatory have proposed a new theory that the Earth approaches or passes through the nebulae every 100 million years, at which time dust and meteorites from cosmic space will strike the Earth in great numbers. If their hypothesis is valid, then it is safe to assert that the Earth's chances of being hit by a small body are far greater than we originally estimated.

So far, humans have calculated the orbits of more than 5,200 asteroids, 95 percent of which lie between Mars and Jupiter. There are at least 2,000 known near-Earth asteroids with diameters larger than l,000 meters, and as many as 300,000 with diameters smaller than 100 meters and larger than 50 meters. These small celestial bodies go around like space shuttles in the vicinity of the Earth, posing a great threat to the planet.

In the 100 years of the 20th century, there have actually been a number of close encounters between asteroids and the Earth. As early as 1936, there was an asteroid numbered "2101" in and the Earth is only 2.2 million kilometers away from the brush, and in 1937, another asteroid named "Hermes" in the distance of 700,000 kilometers from the Earth and the Earth encounter. Closer to home, in 1991, a not too large asteroid was 170,000 kilometers away from the Earth to do irregular movements, so that our scientists were really surprised. The asteroid on September 1, 2000, was about 2.4 million kilometers from Earth at its closest point. Scientists at Cornell University predicted that if this asteroid had the misfortune to hit the Earth, it could have caused the death of about 1.5 billion people around the globe, which would have been devastating for the planet. Fortunately, the asteroid is not interested in "visiting" the Earth, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.

Since the potential danger of a small object hitting the Earth is objective, it is inevitable that the Earth will be attacked by foreign objects in the future. March 11, 1998, the international authority of the asteroid expert Marston through the International Astronomical Union's Express No. 6837, released to the world of a shocking news: an asteroid larger than 1,000 meters in diameter will be likely to be the first to hit the Earth. meet the Earth on October 28, 2028, with a closest distance of 4,500 kilometers and an error of 300,000 kilometers, so the possibility of an asteroid hitting the Earth cannot be ruled out. In addition, according to the relevant information they have calculated that in the 21st century, the distance from the Earth is not less than 3 million kilometers of asteroids and the Earth's close encounters at least seven other times.

In August 2126 of the 22nd century, a periodic comet named "Swift-Tuttle" will meet the Earth. British astronomers have calculated that an asteroid named "1983Tv" will collide with the Earth in 2155, and if it doesn't change its orbit, it could bring irreparable disaster to mankind.

Will the Earth be hit by another asteroid (2)

In March 1996, astronomers made the first of 12 days of observations of near-Earth objects. They found that about 2,000 objects larger than 800 meters in diameter were wandering around the Earth in its orbit around the sun, and more than half of them were previously undiscovered, making it hard to imagine a day when the Earth would collide with one of these asteroids.

Because these objects are subject to the gravitational pull of the planets in our solar system, their orbits can change every minute, so it's hard to predict what will happen until the final moments of an impending collision with Earth. Take the recent discovery of "2000 QWT", which was observed by the Arecibo Observatory only six days before the event. NASA's principal investigator Helling said they were shocked by the previously unseen asteroid.　　

The catastrophe of celestial bodies like comets and asteroids colliding with Earth is not nearly as unlikely as some have argued in the past, but instead is a very real and serious problem. NASA scientists have many times in the form of meetings to discuss how to early detection of dangerous "intent" of the near-Earth objects, and to study how to timely and effective use of missiles and other means of interception, so that within a certain distance to blow up or make it off track.　　

In April 1993, an international conference on the defense of the Earth was held in Erice, Italy. The conference not only discussed the current situation of the Earth and the measures to be taken, but also issued and adopted the Erice Declaration. The Conference called for the development of an interconnected "space alert network" of existing international astronomical equipment, which could be used to ****together detect and prevent attacks on the Earth by foreign "invaders". The Conference also called for increased international cooperation and the timely exchange of information and data on asteroid threats to the Earth.　　

Article 2 of the Eris Declaration makes it clear that, in the very long term, there is a possibility of a near-Earth collision of small bodies that would be sufficient to destroy human civilization, but that this threat is not serious in the near future, but is no less serious than that of other natural disasters. The threat was real, and further coordinated efforts by the international community were needed to bring it to the public's attention.　　

Looking up at the infinite sky, our planet seems so small. Former Soviet cosmonaut Tse's Stinov once put it this way, "When looking down on our small and fragile planet from space, one realizes with particular clarity how defenseless and vulnerable it is."　　

Whether you're black, white, or yellow, we're all Earthlings. Whether you are in Africa, Europe, or Asia, we are all in the same boat. In the face of all kinds of disasters and the universe "uninvited guests" on the Earth's invasion, human beings can only unite, with the collective wisdom and high-tech means to defend our survival *** with the home.　　

Of course, similar to 65 million years ago caused the extinction of the dinosaurs as the big collision, after all, not much, we do not need to panic at present. Research by two scientists, Chapman of the Planetary Science Institute and Morrison of Nasa's Ames Space Research Center, predicts that the probability of a larger celestial body colliding with the Earth is one in 500,000 per year, one in 100,000 over the next 100 years, and only one in 200,000 over a human lifetime.　　

Even if the collision occurs in the near future, there is no need for anyone to worry because we already have the means to intercept it. We believe that by relying on the technology and wisdom of the whole world***, mankind will be able to control its own destiny, and will be able to steer the Earth's ship that is traveling in the vastness of the universe.　

※ The asteroid that poses the greatest threat to the Earth - NT7

According to the BBC, in 2019, the Earth is likely to collide with an asteroid that is more than 2 kilometers wide. Asteroid number NT7 was first discovered by astronomers on July 5, 2002, and based on the so-called Palermo Hazard Technical Class, astronomers have assigned the newly discovered asteroid a class 0.06. NT7 thus became the first asteroid with a positive Palermo Hazard Technical Class.　　

Based on preliminary calculations, NT7 and Earth's orbits will intersect on Feb. 1, 2019, and at the time of NT7's collision with Earth, scientists estimate that NT7 could reach a speed of 28 kilometers per second. Since NT7 is more than 2 kilometers wide, this would be enough to remove one of Earth's continents from the planet.　　

NT7 orbits the sun in one week in 837 days, following an inclined orbit sometimes close to Mars and sometimes close to Earth. It is located in a region of space that astronomers don't usually pay much attention to, so it has remained undiscovered. Since its discovery, NT7 has been tracked by nearly 200 observatories around the world. The scientists who discovered the dangerous asteroid have asked for an increase in the number of observatories tracking and observing it, in the hope of calculating its orbit more accurately.　　

British astronomers said, "In our entire history of observing asteroids, NT7 is the one that poses the greatest threat to our planet."　

※ 2071:2000SG344 thousandths likely to hit

In late April 2002, an asteroid named 1950DA, discovered in 1950, was once again the focus of scientists' attention. Scientists predicted that the asteroid would collide with Earth on March 16, 2880, based on its current orbit. Although scientists claim that the chance of collision is about one in three hundred, this is already an alarming number for scientists and logicians. For Earth, the most imminent danger known to scientists up to this point is from an asteroid codenamed 2000SG344. Scientists have calculated that this asteroid will collide with the Earth in 2071 with a probability of one in a thousand. And once it collides with Earth, then its impact energy will be greater than 100 Hiroshima bombs, with an explosive power greater than the world's most powerful nuclear weapons.