An asteroid estimated to be around 35 to 120 feet in diameter, flew close by our earth in early January. It passed by at a distance of about half the distance of the Moon from the Earth. In the unimaginably limitless and infinite span of the sky in which our Earth is located, this was quite close. The asteroid, named 2017AG13, was discovered and reported by the Catalina Sky Survey to the U.S. space and weather publication "The Watcher" on January 7. It was seen at around 7.50 in the morning by telescope, as reported.
The last space body related near-miss with the Earth, happened way back in February 2013 over Russia when a meteor about 70 feet in diameter, entered and burned up in the earth's atmosphere. Any physical impact on collision by such a large sized astronomical body from space, could well trigger a blast and destruction. It could be anything from 50 to a 100 times more powerful and destructive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in the last World War. However if the foreign body burns up in space, say ten miles high over the Earth's surface, people on the ground are hopefully expected to be safe.
Nevertheless, before such an impact, the knowledge of the approach of such a 'Near-Earth Object' (NEO) only days before will naturally remain a concern for the people. It is because no one knows when and where it might strike. The NASA, understandably focuses on larger NEOs, of around 450 feet or more in diameter; that could possibly end up in a catastrophic and life-threatening impact. It is hence, very important to see and predict its trajectory days before any possibility of the impact rather than not watching it coming and remaining totally uninformed and unprepared.
If we detect a large NEO, well in advance, before it comes closer, then we may be able to find some way to redirect or change its trajectory so that it misses hitting our planet. The last measure could be to fire a nuclear armed rocket projectile to destroy the incoming NEO. Our close brush with asteroids is more common than what we can imagine or know about. The last known large asteroid (estimated between 50 to 100 feet in diameter), was discovered only hours before its possible strike way back in August 2016. The US government tasked the NASA with discovering potentially hazardous NEOs of 450 feet or more in diameter or size. However till date NASA has not got the needed resources of men and material, to handle this task of monitoring our skies for which more resources will be required.
(This was based on a recent article on the subject published in the current issue of the "Popular Mechanic", a US technical magazine)
S. A. Mansoor
Gulshan, Dhaka-1212.
[email protected]
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