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The Meteorite Explosion that Shook Chelyabinsk, Russia on February 15, 2013

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj

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Russian Meteor
A meteor seen flying over Russia on Feb. 15 at 3:20: 26 UTC impacted Chelyabinsk.

A meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia, at 7:20:26 PM PST, or 10:20:26 PM EST on February 14 (3:20:26 UTC on February 15).

At a news conference on Friday, NASA scientists said the object was a “tiny asteroid”. The trajectory of this meteor differed appreciably from the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, which hours later made its flyby of Earth, making both objects completely unrelated.

The Russian Emergency Ministry described it as a shower of meteorite debris. However, some unconfirmed reports suggested that Russian air defenses shot down a meteorite. NASA asteroid expert Don Yeomans, head of the agency’s Near-Earth Object Program Office, said that the object which exploded was most likely an exploding fireball known as a bolide.

According to the preliminary information that appeared in the media unidentified flying objects exploded over several cities in Russia, and the object at Chelyabinsk measured 49 feet (15 meters) across, weighing 7,000 tons and released 30 kilotons of energy when it exploded, and the blast waves blew out window glass of buildings in Chelyabinsk, sending dozens to hospitals, disrupted mobile services, and reportedly injured more than 1,000 people. Many dashboard videos appeared online, showing huge fireballs flying over buildings and exploding with a strong blast. Some walls of the Chelyabinsk Zinc Factory that produced 160,000 metric tons of refined zinc and alloys last year collapsed with extensive damage to the plant.

Now NASA says information provided by a worldwide network of sensors has allowed scientists to revise their estimates for the size of the object before entering Earth’s atmosphere to 55 feet (17 meters), weighing about 10,000 tons. Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama said the energy released during the explosion amounted to 500 kilotons equal to that of an exploding modern nuclear bomb.

Fresh data collected from five more infrasound stations located around the world helped to generate these new estimates. The first infra-sound recording of the event took place in Alaska – over 6,500 kilometers away from Chelyabinsk. Calculations performed by Peter Brown at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, using infrasound data show the time taken by the object from entering the atmosphere to its disintegration in the air took 32.5 seconds.

Paul Chodas of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said, “We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average ”

The present Russia meteor is the largest reported since 1908, when a meteor hit Tunguska, Siberia.

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Asteroid 2012 DA14 Will Flyby on February 15, 2013

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj

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Diagram of 2012 DA14 passing the Earth on 15 February 2013
Path of 2012 DA14 passing the Earth on 15 February 2013

The small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14 discovered on February 23, 2012, by the OAM Observatory, La Sagra in Spain with an estimated diameter of about 45 meters (about half the size of a football field) weighing about 130,000 metric tons mass probably made of stone in contrast to metal or ice is now hurtling towards the earth. It will pass within about 3.5 Earth radii of the Earth’s surface inside the geosynchronous satellite ring, located about 35,800 kilometers above the equator.

UPCOMING CLOSE APPROACHES TO EARTH - 2

Tomorrow, February 15, 2013, when it passes within 17,200 miles (28,000 kilometers) of Earth, it will not be visible to the naked eye, but will be within range of small telescopes and solidly mounted binoculars, used by experienced observers who have access to appropriate star charts. Here is a note from NASA about the asteroid’s visibility:

On [February 15, 2013], the asteroid will travel rapidly from the southern evening sky into the northern morning sky with its closest Earth approach occurring about 19:26 UTC when it will achieve a magnitude of less than seven, which is somewhat fainter than naked eye visibility. About 4 minutes after its Earth close approach, there is a good chance it will pass into the Earth’s shadow for about 18 minutes or so before reappearing from the eclipse. When traveling rapidly into the northern morning sky, 2012 DA14 will quickly fade in brightness.

Astronomical observatories with their large telescopes would record images of the asteroid, and some observatories will be broadcasting them live online.

Slooh Space Camera will cover the asteroid’s near-approach on Friday, February 15, Slooh to cover live from the Canary Islands with the broadcast team, with several live shows free to the public starting at 6 p.m. PST / 9 p.m. EST / 02:00 UTC (2/16), accompanied by real-time discussions with Slooh Space Camera’s Paul Cox, astronomer and author Bob Berman, and Prescott Observatory manager Matt Francis. Viewers can watch live on their PC or iOS/Android mobile device.

Clay Center Observatory will be offering real-time high-definition video, from 22:00 UTC (6 p.m. EST) February 15 until 8:00 UTC (4 a.m. EST) on February 16. The video feed can be freely accessed worldwide via Clay Center Observatory’s Ustream channel. The observatory has also set up a countdown clock to show how much time remains until the tracking begins.

Bareket Observatory in Israel will be providing a free live webcast of the close approach of asteroid 2012 DA14 using a remote telescope coupled with a cooled CCD camera on February 15 from 21:00 – 22:30 local time (19:00 – 20:30 UTC, or 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. CST).

Virtual Telescope Project, which calls itself “the most active facility in the world in astronomical science and education,” will also be following 2012 DA14 on February 15, 2013.

Will anything happen when asteroid 2012 DA14 comes close to Earth? Nothing. According to Paul Chodas, Jon Giorgini and Don Yeomans of NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office the asteroid will not impact the Earth on February 15, 2013.

The asteroid will have no effect on the tides. It will not cause volcanoes to erupt. It will not trigger earthquakes and tsunamis. Though the asteroid will just hurtle closely past Earth only 17,000 miles away – within the orbits of geosynchronous satellites, most of us will not see it, and we will not be aware of it at all.

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A Near-Earth Object, Asteroid 2012 DA14 Now Hurtling Towards Earth

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj
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Comets and asteroids that enter the Earth’s neighborhood nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets are known as near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

One such near-Earth asteroid named 4179 Toutatis formerly known as 1989 AC was discovered by Christian Pollas on January 4, 1989, at Caussols, France. On
December 12, 2012, this asteroid with a shape of a “malformed potato” tumbled through space like a fumbled football, within 4.3 million miles from Earth.

UPCOMING CLOSE APPROACHES TO EARTH - 2

Another near-Earth asteroid discovered on February 23, 2012, by the OAM Observatory, La Sagra in Spain with an estimated diameter of about 45 meters (about half the size of a football field) weighing about 130,000 metric tons mass probably made of stone in contrast to metal or ice is now hurtling towards the earth.

Diagram of 2012 DA14 passing the Earth on 15 February 2013
Diagram of 2012 DA14 passing the Earth on 15 February 2013

On February 15, 2013, this asteroid labeled 2012 DA14 will pass within about 3.5 Earth radii of the Earth’s surface inside the geosynchronous weather and communication satellites ring, approximately 35,800 kilometers above the equator.

Even though asteroids like 2012 DA14 fly past Earth almost every 40 years they impact with our planet only every 1200 years or so. Don Yeomans, Paul Chodas, and Jon Giorgini of NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office after predicting the asteroid’s path have declared that according to their observations, there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with the Earth, and it will safely fly past Earth’s outer ring of satellites on February 15.

“Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, we’ve never seen an object this big gets so close to Earth,” Don Yeomans said.

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Asteroid 2012 DA14 Will Pass the Earth on February 15, 2013

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj

.UPCOMING CLOSE APPROACHES TO EARTH

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On February 23, 2012, the OAM Observatory, La Sagra in Spain discovered a near-earth asteroid with an estimated diameter of about 45 meters and about 130,000 metric tons mass hurtling towards the earth. On February 15th, 2013, this asteroid named 2012 DA14 will pass within about 3.5 Earth radii of the Earth’s surface inside the geosynchronous satellite ring, located about 35,800 kilometers above the equator. According to Paul Chodas, Jon Giorgini and Don Yeomans of NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office the asteroid will not impact the Earth on February 15, 2013.

Diagram of 2012 DA14 passing the Earth on 15 February 2013
Diagram of 2012 DA14 passing the Earth on 15 February 2013. – Author: NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office.

As per calculations, on February 15, 2013, the distance between the asteroid and the Earth will be 0.09 Lunar Distance (35,000 kilometers; 21,000 miles) and travel rapidly from the southern evening sky into the northern morning sky. Its closest Earth approach to Earth would occur at 19:26 UTC achieving magnitude of less than seven; somewhat fainter than naked-eye visibility. Four minutes later 2012 DA14 after passing into the Earth’s shadow for 18 minutes it will reappear from the eclipse, travel swiftly into the northern morning sky and would disappear.

Note: LD = Lunar Distance = ~384,000 kilometers (238,900 miles) .

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