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Meteor explodes over Indonesia
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Barringer Crater, AZ
Just when you think it’s safe to live on Earth, along comes a reminder that there are things whizzing around the solar system that can sneak up on us. On October 8 a rather large asteroid exploded high above Sulawesi, Indonesia. According to a press release from NASA's Near Earth Object Program, the blast released energy equivalent to 50,000 tons of TNT (that’s 110 million pounds).
The blast trail was recorded and is posted on You Tube (where else?). Estimates of the meteor’s size range from 5 to 10 meters. Had it survived to hit the ground, it could have done considerable damage to the area around its impact, but wouldn’t have posed a global threat.
Nearly 6500 Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) have been detected so far, and nearly 800 of those are 1 kilometer across or larger. The good news is that although new NEAs continue to be discovered, the total number of big ones seems to be leveling off. The bad news is that according to theNASA data, the predominant size range for detected NEAs is 300 to 1000 meters. The object that formed Barringer Crater in Arizona is estimated to have been about 50 meters in diameter, and it made a crater nearly one mile wide and 600 feet deep. The Tunguska, Siberia, air-burst in 1908 is thought have been a comet fragment or asteroid about the same size as Barringer. A recent estimate by researchers at the University of Western Ontario places the frequency of such events at about every 400 years.
The scariest thing about the recent event is that even the camera-based detection satellites currently in use probably did not detect it because it – like a fighter pilot – came at us from the direction of the sun. The ultimate reality is that even if we know when one is coming, there isn’t much we can do about yet.
More info: NASA Near-Earth Objects Program home page; National Map Seamless Server
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