In February, a huge asteroid will fall to the ground. In February, a huge asteroid Meteorite February will fall to the ground

NASA's detection systems were unable to detect the approach of the asteroid 2019 OK to Earth. It became known about him when the distance between him and the Earth was no more than 65 thousand kilometers. The asteroid was noticed by the staff of the observatory in Britain. The diameter of the 2019 OK asteroid is comparable to the size of a football field. After this incident, NASA's tracking system was criticized by experts.

Earlier, an asteroid larger than the Cheops pyramid approached the Earth, RIA Novosti reported with reference to NASA data. The diameter of the asteroid 2019 OU1 is 160 meters, which is 20 meters larger than the famous Egyptian pyramid. On August 28, 2019, it approached Earth 40 times closer than Venus and missed our planet at a distance of about a million kilometers.

But what if a dangerous space object fell to Earth? Its size is capable of provoking a series of major tsunamis or the complete destruction of one of the countries of Europe. The smaller, but also potentially dangerous, celestial body flew 7.3 million kilometers on July 25, according to the ISON system.

What meteorites and asteroids have already hit the ground?

Russia has already become the site of falling meteorites and asteroids. The first case was recorded on June 17, 1908 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. The power of the explosion during the fall of the Tunguska meteorite was 40-50 megatons, the shock wave tumbled down 2000 square kilometers of forest. Glasses were knocked out 200 kilometers from the epicenter, and seismic vibrations were recorded at stations in cities such as Irkutsk, Tashkent, Tbilisi and Jena (Germany). The most interesting thing is that the fragments of the meteorite were never found.

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The most "difficult" case occurred on February 12, 1947, near the village of Beitsukhe in the Primorsky Territory. The weight of the fragments found was 60-100 tons, and the body itself had an iron composition. The Sikhote-Alin meteorite, as it was nicknamed because of the fall in the mountains of the same name, split in the atmosphere and crumbled to the ground in the form of a meteor shower. Now its fragments can be seen in the Kaluga Planetarium.

The recent fall of fragments of an asteroid, whose age was about 4.5 billion years, occurred in the Chelyabinsk region on February 15, 2013. The fall of fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite was accompanied by strong shock waves, which, according to NASA estimates, amounted to 300-500 thousand kilotons. The largest fragment, weighing 654 kilograms, was raised from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul.

Fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite.TASS / Artem Korotaev

As a result of the fall of meteorite fragments to the ground, 1,615 people were injured - most of them from fragments of windows and other structures provoked by the blast wave from "Chelyabinsk". Buildings were damaged in the amount of 490 million rubles, and the total damage amounted to almost one billion. This celestial body was not discovered before it entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Now imagine how much damage was done by fragments of fairly small meteorites. What can happen if the asteroid 2019 OU1 changes its trajectory and still falls to the ground ?.

How to be saved during the fall of an asteroid to Earth?

According to scientists, for its entire existence, the Earth has taken over at least six large asteroids. This is evidenced by the huge craters that exist on our planet. The largest is located in South Africa, its diameter is 300 kilometers! This is 6% of the total area of ​​the African country. It is logical that the collision of an asteroid with the Earth could occur in the 21st century. How to behave if a catastrophe of a planetary scale turns out to be inevitable?

• Find a shelter... The All-Russian Public Opinion Center (VTsIOM) conducted a poll on the topic of nuclear war and found that 71% of Russians do not know about the existence of specific bomb shelters in their city. Only 15% know where to hide, but most of them are men over 35. This means that people simply will not understand where to run if a disaster strikes. You should see where the bomb shelter is located in your city or town. Big cities with metro are easier. You can always go down to the subway, but the capacity of metro stations is small, especially with one exit and no transfer points.
• Take your essentials with you... It can be warm clothes, medicines (antiseptics, bows, pain relievers, anti-inflammatory), water, non-perishable food (cereals, canned food, oil, sugar, salt, milk powder), hygiene products, threads, flashlight, personal protective equipment, important the documents.
• Keep away from windows and other glass structures. If you saw that a space body was flying in the sky, or if you received a warning about a danger, move away from the windows! The fall or rupture of a meteorite / asteroid in the sky will provoke a shock wave that will surely destroy all glass partitions. You can get hurt by flying debris and even seriously injured.

Asteroids, which in the future may approach the Earth at a distance of 7.5 million km, are considered potentially dangerous for the Earth. Our planet has collided with these cosmic bodies more than once. Today we will talk about how dangerous the fall of an asteroid to Earth is and is there a likelihood of a large-scale catastrophe in the foreseeable future? And first, a little historical background.

An asteroid (from the Greek "like a star", "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 the Earth, which led to global changes.

Traces of the oldest asteroid

In the spring of 2016 in Australia, geologists discovered traces of an asteroid falling with a diameter of about 30-40 km. That is, it is comparable in size to 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 not only the rudiments of life were formed on the earth, but the entire diversity of the biosphere was formed.

There is also an opinion that the mysterious disappearance of the dinosaurs was due to the fall of a large asteroid on Earth. Although this is just one of many versions ...

It is interesting! The ancient shock was formed as a result of a meeting with a meteorite. Its depth once reached 20 km. The fall of the meteorite caused a tsunami and climate change similar to a nuclear winter. In addition, the temperature on Earth could drop by 26 degrees for up to 16 years.

Chelyabinsk meteorite

The fall of an asteroid to Earth in February 2013 became one of the most discussed accidents not only in Russia, but all over the world. The asteroid, whose mass reached 16 tons, partially burned up in the Earth's atmosphere, but its relatively small part fell near Chelyabinsk, fortunately, flying over it.

That year, it 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 such damage, since they did not fall so close to a densely populated point. The mass of the meteorite was 6 tons. Falling into the lake caused broken glass in 7,000 buildings. 112 people were hospitalized with burns, a few more people turned to doctors for help. In total, the shock wave covered 6.5 thousand square meters.

The huge damage caused by the asteroid could be much more significant if the celestial stone fell not into the water, but onto land. Fortunately, the fall of the asteroid to earth did not turn into a large-scale catastrophe.

Why is the fall of a large meteorite on Earth dangerous?

According to the calculations of scientists, the fall of an asteroid on Earth can lead to 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 warming up from the sun will lower ozone levels, accelerate chemical reactions in the stratosphere, and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the planet's surface.

Thus, the consequences of the fall of the asteroid on Earth are very serious. The global temperature of the Earth will drop by 8 0 C, causing an ice age. But in order to lead to the extinction of mankind, the asteroid must be 10 times larger.

Gigantic danger

Scientists recently found out that centaurs should be included in the list of potential threats to our planet - these are giant asteroids with a diameter of 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. Whether the fall of a giant asteroid to Earth is possible in the near future, scientists are constantly calculating, although calculating the trajectory of the fall of the centaurs is a very difficult task.

In addition, the list of potential threats to the Earth includes:

• supervolcanic eruption;
• global pandemic;
• fall of an asteroid (in 0.00013%);
• nuclear war;
• ecological catastrophy.

Will the asteroid hit Earth in October 2017?

The main question that currently worries scientists is the danger emanating from an asteroid, the size of which is 2 times larger than the Chelyabinsk meteorite. There is a chance that there will be an event in October 2017 that will trigger a much larger disaster than the hit in 2013. Astronomer Judith Rees claims that the diameter of the asteroid reaches 40 km. It was dubbed Object 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 will approach the most dangerous distance for our planet. Scientists believe that if the fall of the asteroid to Earth does take place, the British will be the first to see it.

At the moment, scientists are actively studying the possibility of a collision. True, the probability of an asteroid falling to Earth is very small and, according to the researchers, is 1 in a million. However, it is still there.

Constant danger

It should be noted that certain asteroids of different sizes are constantly flying past the Earth. They are potentially dangerous, but very rarely do they actually fall to Earth. So, at the end of 2016, a body flew past the Earth at a distance of 2/3 of the distance from a small truck.

And January 2017 was marked by the passage of a celestial body reaching the size of a 10-storey building. He flew within 180 thousand km from us.

According to scientists, residents of Great Britain will be the first to see the fall of a space object called WF9. The asteroid was discovered back in November 2016, but reports of the threat have appeared only now.

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An object with a diameter of 500 meters to a kilometer should reach Earth on February 25, reports the Daily Mail. The giant was at a distance of 51 million kilometers from us.

Astronomer Damir Demin claims that in the event of an asteroid falling to Earth, coastal cities will be covered by giant tsunamis. The expert is sure that it will fall on our planet, according to the online publication M24. According to him, WF9 took off from the Nibiru system. According to doomsday theories, Nibiru will destroy life on Earth.

However, not all astronomers share the pessimistic sentiments of their colleagues. Anatoly Zaitsev, general director of the non-profit partnership Center for Planetary Defense, claims that if an object is significant, scientists immediately calculate its trajectory.

"And if he, however, threatened, then they would know about him not only in NASA. Therefore, while the information is very dubious to draw any conclusions," - quotes a specialist Nation News. There are also a number of his colleagues who are sure that the asteroid will simply burn up in the atmosphere of our planet and will not harm anyone.

The diameter of the celestial body is about 40 meters

Western astronomers have discovered a space object twice the size of the famous Chelyabinsk meteorite, the meeting with which may take place in 2017. The scale of possible destruction can be much greater than in the latter case.

According to preliminary calculations of the American woman astronomer Judith Rees from the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas, the diameter of the new asteroid is about 40 meters, which, when it collides with the surface of our planet, will cause devastating damage, several times higher than the consequences of the crash of a smaller meteorite near Chelyabinsk in February 2013, according to astronomical astrowatch.net.

The dangerous celestial body was discovered in October 2012 by an observatory in Hawaii. In the same month, he passed at a dangerously close distance from the Earth of 95,000 kilometers, which is equal to the distance to the Moon. Asteroid 2012 TS4 is expected to take place in the most dangerous proximity to Earth on October 12, 2017.

Now experts are trying to establish the exact orbit of the asteroid and calculate its chances of a collision, which so far, apparently, are rather low - only 0.00055%, but, nevertheless, they are still there.

According to the expert of the European Space Agency Detlef Koshni, the chances of a meteorite colliding with the Earth are minimal - “one in a million”. The same point of view is shared by Makoto Yoshikawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Recall that two years ago, on February 15, 2013, there was a fall - the largest known celestial body that fell to earth after the Tunguska meteorite in 1908.

A flash of light was seen in neighboring regions, as well as in neighboring Kazakhstan. The shock wave knocked out glass in more than 7,000 buildings. The emergency happened without human casualties, but more than 1.6 thousand people were injured, 52 people were hospitalized.

Scientists have estimated the mass of the object before entering the atmosphere at 13 thousand tons, and its size at 19.8 meters.

A few minutes after the explosion (according to eyewitnesses, from 77 seconds to three minutes or more, depending on the distance), a shock wave came to the ground. The impact zone of the shock wave on the surface was about 130 kilometers long and 50 kilometers wide.

The area affected by the shock wave was 6.5 thousand square kilometers.

Only 4-6 tons of meteorite matter flew to the ground, which is 0.03-0.05% of the original mass, while 76% evaporated, and the rest turned into dust.

The study of the meteoric substance showed that the Chelyabinsk asteroid belonged to the number of ordinary chondrites of the LL5 type, its age is about 4.45 billion years, around the time of birth it experienced a powerful collision with another object. Chemical analysis showed that traces of organic compounds containing sulfur and oxygen remained in the meteorite.

The witnesses of the event interviewed by scientists said that it was painful for them to look at the car. About 25 people out of 1,100 respondents reported that they received burns, 315 felt fever, and 415 felt heat from the radiation of the car.

The meteorite, called "Chelyabinsk", turned out to be the largest known celestial body that fell to the Earth after the Tunguska meteorite in 1908. On average, such an event occurs once every 100 years.

The "Chelyabinsk event" became significant for politics as well: it forced the authorities of the United States, Russia and the European Union to once again return to the problem of the asteroid-cometary hazard.

The Ural meteorite for some time distracted scientists from another space object - an asteroid, which is now approaching the Earth. According to calculations, it will approach the minimum distance to our planet at 23 hours 20 minutes Moscow time. This unique event will be streamed live on NASA's website. Residents of Asia and Australia, and also, possibly, some regions of Eastern Europe will be able to see the asteroid.

In a little more than 2 hours, the DA14 object will pass by the Earth at a distance of 28 thousand kilometers - this is closer than some satellites fly. If this asteroid weighing 130 tons and a diameter of 45 meters collided with our planet, the explosion would be equal to one thousand Hiroshima. There was even an assumption that a meteorite that fell in the Urals could be part of this cosmic monster and that others, larger ones, would follow. However, most scientists do not see a connection with the asteroid DA14 and the Ural meteorite.

"As for whether we are threatened by Armageddon or not. Now it is already known for certain. All asteroids larger than one kilometer in diameter that bring such a catastrophe to the Earth on a large scale, they are all known and have well-known orbits, they are all pro-logical and observable. There is no danger from them ", - assured the head of the department of space astrometry at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Lidiya Rykhlova.

While watching a large asteroid, a meteorite that fell in the Urals was overlooked. However, it was almost impossible to see it before entering the atmosphere - neither civilian observatories nor missile defense radars can do this - the size is too small and the speed is high. The military say that even if such a meteorite is discovered, modern air defense systems are not yet capable of destroying such objects. In retrospect, scientists have deduced data from a celestial body that has already fallen in the Urals - a mass of several tons, a speed of 15 kilometers per second, an angle of incidence of 45 degrees, the power of a shock wave is several kilotons. At an altitude of 50 kilometers, the object collapsed into 3 parts and almost completely burned up in the atmosphere.

"Not more than 10 meters in diameter, it flew at supersonic speed and therefore generated a shock wave. This shock wave caused all this destruction, people were injured not by fragments of a meteorite, but by a shock wave. Now, if a supersonic plane would have passed on the same height, for example, God forbid above Moscow, the destruction would be the same, "- said the deputy director of the State Astronomical Institute. Sternberg Sergei Lamzin.

Any space object that flew to the Earth's atmosphere and left a trace in it, scientists call a meteorite. As a rule, they are small in size and, moving in the air at a speed of several kilometers per second, completely burn out. And yet, about 5 tons of cosmic matter falls to the Earth every day in the form of dust and small grains of sand. Almost all space guests come to us from the so-called asteroid belt, which is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

"A kind of garbage dump of the solar system, where all the debris is concentrated. Collisions between asteroids occur in this belt. As a result, some debris are formed that can acquire an orbit that crosses the Earth's orbit," said Mikhail Nazarov.

However, some scientists believe that it was not a meteorite that fell near Chelyabinsk. They are sure that no one will ever find any debris, just as they did not find the debris of the Tunguska meteorite. We are most likely talking about a cooled comet, which consists of frozen gases.

"If the nucleus of a first-generation comet invades the Earth, then it almost completely burns up in the Earth's atmosphere, and it is impossible to find any remnants on the surface. This is similar to the Tunguska phenomenon, when no body remains were found, but there was a large felling of forests over a large area. and the trees were all badly charred, "said Vladislav Leonov, a researcher at the Space Astrometry Department of the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Nevertheless, the search for the remains of the meteorite near Chelyabinsk continues. At the same time, not only rescuers and scientists are looking for, now dozens of meteorite hunters have already rushed to the area of ​​the alleged fall. The price of some of them on the black market can go up to several thousand rubles per gram.