The fall of the asteroid to Earth in 2017

Asteroids, which in the future can approach the Earth a distance of 7.5 million km, are considered potentially dangerous for the Earth. Our planet has already faced these cosmic bodies more than once. Today we will talk about how dangerous the fall of the asteroid to Earth is and whether there is a possibility of a large-scale catastrophe in the foreseeable future? And to begin with, a small historical reference.

What is an asteroid?

The asteroid (with the Greek "star-like", "star") is also called a small planet. It is a heavenly body, the size of which exceeds 30 km. Some of them have their own satellites. A lot of asteroids travel through our solar system. 3.5 million years ago, a huge number of asteroids fell to Earth, which led to global changes.

Traces of the most ancient asteroid

In the spring of 2016 in Australia, geologists discovered traces of the fall of the asteroid, whose diameter was about 30-40 km. That is, in size, it is commensurate with a small companion. The fall caused the 11-point earthquake, tsunami and large-scale destruction. Probably, it was one of the asteroids, as a result of the fall of which on the earth not only the rudiments of life were formed, but the whole diversity of the biosphere was formed.

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

It is interesting! The ancient impact crater Chicxulub 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, for a period of up to 16 years on Earth, the temperature could drop by 26 degrees.

Chelyabinsk Meteorite

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

In that year he flew over the Urals city, which served as the basis for his name. The body itself was quite ordinary and consisted of chondrites, but the time and place of its fall aroused interest. None of the asteroids that fell to Earth caused such damage, as it did not fall so close to a densely populated point. The meteorite weight was 6 tons. Having fallen into Lake Chebarkul, the meteorite caused the knocked out glass in 7,000 buildings. 112 people were hospitalized with burns, several more people turned to the 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 sky stone fell not in the water, but on land. Fortunately, the fall of the asteroid to the ground did not turn into a massive catastrophe.

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

According to the calculations of scientists, the fall of the asteroid to Earth can lead to huge damage if the body about 1 km in size falls on the land of the Earth. First of all, a funnel with a diameter of approximately 15 km is formed, this will cause dust to enter the atmosphere. And this, in turn, can lead to large-scale fires. Dust, heated from the sun, will lower the level of ozone, accelerate chemical reactions in the stratosphere, reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the planet.

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

Giant danger

Recently, scientists have found that the list of potential threats for our planet should include centaurs - these are giant asteroids, whose diameter ranges from 50 to 100 km. The gravitational field of other planets ejects them every 40-100 thousand years toward our Earth. Their number has now risen sharply. Is it possible for the giant asteroid to fall to Earth in the near future, scientists constantly calculate, although calculating the trajectory of the centaur fall is a very difficult task.

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

• Super volcanic eruption;
• A global pandemic;
• The fall of the asteroid (in 0.00013%);
• nuclear war;
• ecological catastrophy.

Will the asteroid fall to Earth in October 2017?

The main issue that scientists are currently concerned with is the danger emanating from the asteroid, which is twice the size of the Chelyabinsk meteorite. There is a possibility that in October 2017 an event will occur that will cause a much larger scale of disasters than a blow in 2013. Astronomer Judith Rees claims that the diameter of the asteroid reaches 40 km. He was christened WF9.

A dangerous celestial body was discovered by scientists in Hawaii back in 2012. That year, it was very close to 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 really takes place, then the British will see it first.

At the moment, scientists are actively exploring the possibility of a collision. True, the probability of the fall of the asteroid to Earth is very small and amounts, as the researchers claim, 1 to a million. However, it does exist.

Permanent danger

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

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