A dangerous asteroid heading to the Earth was spotted by stargazers three years after it had got onto its current orbit
NASA's data shows the 60-meter asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, will whistle by Earth in 11 months. Its trajectory will bring it within a hair’s breadth of our planet, raising fears of a possible collision.
The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.
There is a possibility the asteroid will collide with Earth, but further calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out how to avert possible disaster, NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told students at Moscow’s University of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM).
“The Earth’s gravitational field will alter the asteroid’s path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is required to estimate the threat of collision,” said Dr. Dunham, as transcribed by Russia’s Izvestia. “The asteroid may break into dozens of small pieces, or several large lumps may split from it and burn up in the atmosphere. The type of the asteroid and its mineral structure can be determined by spectral analysis. This will help predict its behavior in the atmosphere and what should be done to prevent the potential threat,” said Dr. Dunham.
In the event of a collision, scientists have calculated that the energy released would equate to the destructive power of a thermo-nuclear bomb.
In response to the threat, scientists have come up with some ingenious methods to avert a potential disaster.
Fireworks and watercolors
With the asteroid zooming that low, it will be too late to do anything with it besides trying to predict its final destination and the consequences of impact.
“We could paint it,” says NASA expert David Dunham.
Paint would affect the asteroid’s ability to reflect sunlight, changing its temperature and altering its spin. The asteroid would stalk off its current course, but this could also make the boulder even more dangerous when it comes back in 2056, Aleksandr Devaytkin, the head of the observatory in Russia’s Pulkovo, told Izvestia.
2012 DA14 orbit diagram
Spaceship impossible?
Whatever the mission, building a spaceship to deal with 2012 DA14 will take two years – at least.The asteroid has proven a bitter discovery. It has been circling in orbit for three years already, crossing Earth’s path several times, says space analyst Sergey Naroenkov from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It seems that spotting danger from outer space is still the area where mere chance reigns, while asteroid defense systems exist only in drafts.
Still, prospects of meeting 2012 DA14 are not all doom and gloom.
“The asteroid may split into pieces entering the atmosphere. In this case, most part of it will never reach the planet’s surface,” remarks Dunham.
But if the entire asteroid is to crash into the planet, the impact will be as hard as in the Tunguska blast, which in 1908 knocked down trees over a total area of 2,150 sq km (830 sq miles) in Siberia. This is almost the size of Luxembourg. In today’s case, the destination of the asteroid is yet to be determined.
http://rt.com/news/paint-asteroid-earth-nasa-767/
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012+DA14;orb=1
| JPL Small-Body Database Browser |
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| (2012 DA14) |
| Classification: Apollo [NEO] SPK-ID: 3599602 |
| [ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ] |
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| Orbital Elements at Epoch 2456000.5 (2012-Mar-14.0) TDB Reference: JPL 13 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
| Orbit Determination Parameters
Additional Information
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| [ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ] |
Physical Parameter Table
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[ show close-approach data ]
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