Velocity Distribution of Larger Meteoroids and Small Asteroids Impacting Earth
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The Impact and Recovery of Asteroid 2008 TC3 P
Vol 458 | 26 March 2009 | doi:10.1038/nature07920 LETTERS The impact and recovery of asteroid 2008 TC3 P. Jenniskens1, M. H. Shaddad2, D. Numan2, S. Elsir3, A. M. Kudoda2, M. E. Zolensky4,L.Le4,5, G. A. Robinson4,5, J. M. Friedrich6,7, D. Rumble8, A. Steele8, S. R. Chesley9, A. Fitzsimmons10, S. Duddy10, H. H. Hsieh10, G. Ramsay11, P. G. Brown12, W. N. Edwards12, E. Tagliaferri13, M. B. Boslough14, R. E. Spalding14, R. Dantowitz15, M. Kozubal15, P. Pravec16, J. Borovicka16, Z. Charvat17, J. Vaubaillon18, J. Kuiper19, J. Albers1, J. L. Bishop1, R. L. Mancinelli1, S. A. Sandford20, S. N. Milam20, M. Nuevo20 & S. P. Worden20 In the absence of a firm link between individual meteorites and magnitude H 5 30.9 6 0.1 (using a phase angle slope parameter their asteroidal parent bodies, asteroids are typically characterized G 5 0.15). This is a measure of the asteroid’s size. only by their light reflection properties, and grouped accordingly Eyewitnesses in Wadi Halfa and at Station 6 (a train station between into classes1–3. On 6 October 2008, a small asteroid was discovered Wadi Halfa and Al Khurtum, Sudan) in the Nubian Desert described a with a flat reflectance spectrum in the 554–995 nm wavelength rocket-like fireball with an abrupt ending. Sensors aboard US govern- range, and designated 2008 TC3 (refs 4–6). It subsequently hit the ment satellites first detected the bolide at 65 km altitude at Earth. Because it exploded at 37 km altitude, no macroscopic 02:45:40 UTC (ref. 8). The optical signal consisted of three peaks span- fragments were expected to survive. -
Using a Nuclear Explosive Device for Planetary Defense Against an Incoming Asteroid
Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2019 Exoatmospheric Plowshares: Using a Nuclear Explosive Device for Planetary Defense Against an Incoming Asteroid David A. Koplow Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2197 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3229382 UCLA Journal of International Law & Foreign Affairs, Spring 2019, Issue 1, 76. This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Air and Space Law Commons, International Law Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, and the National Security Law Commons EXOATMOSPHERIC PLOWSHARES: USING A NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE DEVICE FOR PLANETARY DEFENSE AGAINST AN INCOMING ASTEROID DavidA. Koplow* "They shall bear their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks" Isaiah 2:4 ABSTRACT What should be done if we suddenly discover a large asteroid on a collision course with Earth? The consequences of an impact could be enormous-scientists believe thatsuch a strike 60 million years ago led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, and something ofsimilar magnitude could happen again. Although no such extraterrestrialthreat now looms on the horizon, astronomers concede that they cannot detect all the potentially hazardous * Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center. The author gratefully acknowledges the valuable comments from the following experts, colleagues and friends who reviewed prior drafts of this manuscript: Hope M. Babcock, Michael R. Cannon, Pierce Corden, Thomas Graham, Jr., Henry R. Hertzfeld, Edward M. -
Detecting and Avoiding Killer Asteroids
Target Earth! Detecting and Avoiding Killer Asteroids by Trudy E. Bell (Copyright 2013 Trudy E. Bell) ARTH HAD NO warning. When a mountain- above 2000°C and triggering earthquakes and volcanoes sized asteroid struck at tens of kilometers (miles) around the globe. per second, supersonic shock waves radiated Ocean water suctioned from the shoreline and geysered outward through the planet, shock-heating rocks kilometers up into the air; relentless tsunamis surged e inland. At ground zero, nearly half the asteroid’s kinetic energy instantly turned to heat, vaporizing the projectile and forming a mammoth impact crater within minutes. It also vaporized vast volumes of Earth’s sedimentary rocks, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide and sulfur di- oxide into the atmosphere, along with heavy dust from both celestial and terrestrial rock. High-altitude At least 300,000 asteroids larger than 30 meters revolve around the sun in orbits that cross Earth’s. Most are not yet discovered. One may have Earth’s name written on it. What are engineers doing to guard our planet from destruction? winds swiftly spread dust and gases worldwide, blackening skies from equator to poles. For months, profound darkness blanketed the planet and global temperatures dropped, followed by intense warming and torrents of acid rain. From single-celled ocean plank- ton to the land’s grandest trees, pho- tosynthesizing plants died. Herbivores starved to death, as did the carnivores that fed upon them. Within about three years—the time it took for the mingled rock dust from asteroid and Earth to fall out of the atmosphere onto the ground—70 percent of species and entire genera on Earth perished forever in a worldwide mass extinction. -
Arxiv:2001.00125V1 [Astro-Ph.EP] 1 Jan 2020
Draft version January 3, 2020 Typeset using LATEX default style in AASTeX61 SIZE AND SHAPE CONSTRAINTS OF (486958) ARROKOTH FROM STELLAR OCCULTATIONS Marc W. Buie,1 Simon B. Porter,1 et al. 1Southwest Research Institute 1050 Walnut St., Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA To be submitted to Astronomical Journal, Version 1.1, 2019/12/30 ABSTRACT We present the results from four stellar occultations by (486958) Arrokoth, the flyby target of the New Horizons extended mission. Three of the four efforts led to positive detections of the body, and all constrained the presence of rings and other debris, finding none. Twenty-five mobile stations were deployed for 2017 June 3 and augmented by fixed telescopes. There were no positive detections from this effort. The event on 2017 July 10 was observed by SOFIA with one very short chord. Twenty-four deployed stations on 2017 July 17 resulted in five chords that clearly showed a complicated shape consistent with a contact binary with rough dimensions of 20 by 30 km for the overall outline. A visible albedo of 10% was derived from these data. Twenty-two systems were deployed for the fourth event on 2018 Aug 4 and resulted in two chords. The combination of the occultation data and the flyby results provides a significant refinement of the rotation period, now estimated to be 15.9380 ± 0.0005 hours. The occultation data also provided high-precision astrometric constraints on the position of the object that were crucial for supporting the navigation for the New Horizons flyby. This work demonstrates an effective method for obtaining detailed size and shape information and probing for rings and dust on distant Kuiper Belt objects as well as being an important source of positional data that can aid in spacecraft navigation that is particularly useful for small and distant bodies. -
NASA Ames Jim Arnold, Craig Burkhardt Et Al
The re-entry of artificial meteoroid WT1190F AIAA SciTech 2016 1/5/2016 2008 TC3 Impact October 7, 2008 Mohammad Odeh International Astronomical Center, Abu Dhabi Peter Jenniskens SETI Institute Asteroid Threat Assessment Project (ATAP) - NASA Ames Jim Arnold, Craig Burkhardt et al. Michael Aftosmis - NASA Ames 2 Darrel Robertson - NASA Ames Next TC3 Consortium http://impact.seti.org Mission Statement: Steve Larson (Catalina Sky Survey) “Be prepared for the next 2008 TC3 John Tonry (ATLAS) impact” José Luis Galache (Minor Planet Center) Focus on two aspects: Steve Chesley (NASA JPL) 1. Airborne observations of the reentry Alan Fitzsimmons (Queen’s Univ. Belfast) 2. Rapid recovery of meteorites Eileen Ryan (Magdalena Ridge Obs.) Franck Marchis (SETI Institute) Ron Dantowitz (Clay Center Observatory) Jay Grinstead (NASA Ames Res. Cent.) Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute - POC) You? 5 NASA/JPL “Sentry” early alert October 3, 2015: WT1190F Davide Farnocchia (NASA/JPL) Catalina Sky Survey: Richard Kowalski Steve Chesley (NASA/JPL) Marco Michelli (ESA NEOO CC) 6 WT1190F Found: October 3, 2015: one more passage Oct. 24 Traced back to: 2013, 2012, 2011, …, 2009 Re-entry: Friday November 13, 2015 10.61 km/s 20.6º angle Bill Gray 11 IAC + UAE Space Agency chartered commercial G450 Mohammad Odeh (IAC, Abu Dhabi) Support: UAE Space Agency Dexter Southfield /Embry-Riddle AU 14 ESA/University Stuttgart 15 SETI Institute 16 Dexter Southfield team Time UAE Camera Trans-Lunar Insertion Stage Leading candidate (1/13/2016): LUNAR PROSPECTOR T.L.I.S. Launch: January 7, 1998 UT Lunar Prospector itself was deliberately crashed on Moon July 31, 1999 Carbon fiber composite Spin hull thrusters Titanium case holds Amonium Thiokol Perchlorate fuel and Star Stage 3700S HTPB binder (both contain H) P.I.: Alan Binder Scott Hubbard 57-minutes later: Mission Director Separation of TLIS NASA Ames http://impact.seti.org 30 . -
Graphite-Based Geothermometry on Almahata Sitta Ureilitic Meteorites
minerals Article Graphite-Based Geothermometry on Almahata Sitta Ureilitic Meteorites Anna Barbaro 1,*, M. Chiara Domeneghetti 1, Cyrena A. Goodrich 2, Moreno Meneghetti 3 , Lucio Litti 3, Anna Maria Fioretti 4, Peter Jenniskens 5 , Muawia H. Shaddad 6 and Fabrizio Nestola 7,8 1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy; [email protected] 2 Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, TX 77058, USA; [email protected] 3 Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy; [email protected] (M.M.); [email protected] (L.L.) 4 Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, National Research Council, 35131 Padova, Italy; anna.fi[email protected] 5 SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; [email protected] 6 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum 11111, Sudan; [email protected] 7 Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy; [email protected] 8 Geoscience Institute, Goethe-University Frankfurt, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +39-3491548631 Received: 13 October 2020; Accepted: 10 November 2020; Published: 12 November 2020 Abstract: The thermal history of carbon phases, including graphite and diamond, in the ureilite meteorites has implications for the formation, igneous evolution, and impact disruption of their parent body early in the history of the Solar System. Geothermometry data were obtained by micro-Raman spectroscopy on graphite in Almahata Sitta (AhS) ureilites AhS 72, AhS 209b and AhS A135A from the University of Khartoum collection. In these samples, graphite shows G-band peak centers between 1 1578 and 1585 cm− and the full width at half maximum values correspond to a crystallization temperature of 1266 ◦C for graphite for AhS 209b, 1242 ◦C for AhS 72, and 1332 ◦C for AhS A135A. -
Arxiv:1710.07684V1 [Astro-Ph.EP] 20 Oct 2017 Significant Non-Gravitational Perturbations Due to the Effects of Radiation Pressure (Gray, 2015)
The observing campaign on the deep-space debris WT1190F as a test case for short-warning NEO impacts Marco Michelia,b,, Alberto Buzzonic, Detlef Koschnya,d,e, Gerhard Drolshagena,f, Ettore Perozzih,a,g, Olivier Hainauti, Stijn Lemmensj, Giuseppe Altavillac,b, Italo Foppianic, Jaime Nomenk, Noelia Sánchez-Ortizk, Wladimiro Marinellol, Gianpaolo Pizzettil, Andrea Soffiantinil, Siwei Fanm, Carolin Fruehm aESA SSA-NEO Coordination Centre, Largo Galileo Galilei, 1, 00044 Frascati (RM), Italy bINAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati, 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone (RM), Italy cINAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Via Gobetti, 93/3, 40129 Bologna (BO), Italy dESTEC, European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands eTechnical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany fSpace Environment Studies - Faculty VI, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany gDeimos Space Romania, Strada Buze¸sti75-77, Bucure¸sti011013, Romania hAgenzia Spaziale Italiana, Via del Politecnico, 1, 00133 Roma (RM), Italy iEuropean Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany jESA Space Debris Office, Robert-Bosch-Straße 5, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany kDeimos Space S.L.U., Ronda de Pte., 19, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain lOsservatorio Astronomico “Serafino Zani”, Colle San Bernardo, 25066 Lumezzane Pieve (BS), Italy mSchool of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, 701 W Stadium Ave, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Abstract On 2015 November 13, the small artificial object designated WT1190F entered the Earth atmosphere above the Indian Ocean offshore Sri Lanka after being discovered as a possible new asteroid only a few weeks earlier. At ESA’s SSA-NEO Coordination Centre we took advantage of this opportunity to organize a ground-based observational campaign, using WT1190F as a test case for a possible similar future event involving a natural asteroidal body. -
Abstracts of the 50Th DDA Meeting (Boulder, CO)
Abstracts of the 50th DDA Meeting (Boulder, CO) American Astronomical Society June, 2019 100 — Dynamics on Asteroids break-up event around a Lagrange point. 100.01 — Simulations of a Synthetic Eurybates 100.02 — High-Fidelity Testing of Binary Asteroid Collisional Family Formation with Applications to 1999 KW4 Timothy Holt1; David Nesvorny2; Jonathan Horner1; Alex B. Davis1; Daniel Scheeres1 Rachel King1; Brad Carter1; Leigh Brookshaw1 1 Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder 1 Centre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland (Boulder, Colorado, United States) (Longmont, Colorado, United States) 2 Southwest Research Institute (Boulder, Connecticut, United The commonly accepted formation process for asym- States) metric binary asteroids is the spin up and eventual fission of rubble pile asteroids as proposed by Walsh, Of the six recognized collisional families in the Jo- Richardson and Michel (Walsh et al., Nature 2008) vian Trojan swarms, the Eurybates family is the and Scheeres (Scheeres, Icarus 2007). In this theory largest, with over 200 recognized members. Located a rubble pile asteroid is spun up by YORP until it around the Jovian L4 Lagrange point, librations of reaches a critical spin rate and experiences a mass the members make this family an interesting study shedding event forming a close, low-eccentricity in orbital dynamics. The Jovian Trojans are thought satellite. Further work by Jacobson and Scheeres to have been captured during an early period of in- used a planar, two-ellipsoid model to analyze the stability in the Solar system. The parent body of the evolutionary pathways of such a formation event family, 3548 Eurybates is one of the targets for the from the moment the bodies initially fission (Jacob- LUCY spacecraft, and our work will provide a dy- son and Scheeres, Icarus 2011). -
Meteoroids: the Smallest Solar System Bodies
Passage of Bolides through the Atmosphere 1 O. Popova Abstract Different fragmentation models are applied to a number of events, including the entry of TC3 2008 asteroid in order to reproduce existing observational data. keywords meteoroid entry · fragmentation · modeling 1 Introduction Fragmentation is a very important phenomenon which occurs during the meteoroid entry into the atmosphere and adds more drastic effects than mere deceleration and ablation. Modeling of bolide 6 fragmentation (100 – 10 kg in mass) may be divided into several approaches. Detail fitting of observational data (deceleration and/or light curves) allows the determination of some meteoroid parameters (ablation and shape-density coefficients, fragmentation points, amount of mass loss) (Ceplecha et al. 1993; Ceplecha and ReVelle 2005). Observational data with high accuracy are needed for the gross-fragmentation model (Ceplecha et al. 1993), which is used for the analysis of European and Desert bolide networks data. Hydrodynamical models, which describe the entry of the meteoroid 6 including evolution of its material, are applied mainly for large bodies (>10 kg) (Boslough et al. 1994; Svetsov et al. 1995; Shuvalov and Artemieva 2002, and others). Numerous papers were devoted to the application of standard equations for large meteoroid entry in the attempts to reproduce dynamics and/or radiation for different bolides and to predict meteorite falls. These modeling efforts are often supplemented by different fragmentation models (Baldwin and Sheaffer, 1971; Borovi6ka et al. 1998; Artemieva and Shuvalov, 2001; Bland and Artemieva, 2006, and others). The fragmentation may occur in different ways. For example, few large fragments are formed. These pieces initially interact through their shock waves and then continue their flight independently. -
Detecting the Yarkovsky Effect Among Near-Earth Asteroids From
Detecting the Yarkovsky effect among near-Earth asteroids from astrometric data Alessio Del Vignaa,b, Laura Faggiolid, Andrea Milania, Federica Spotoc, Davide Farnocchiae, Benoit Carryf aDipartimento di Matematica, Universit`adi Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 5, Pisa, Italy bSpace Dynamics Services s.r.l., via Mario Giuntini, Navacchio di Cascina, Pisa, Italy cIMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universits, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Lille, 77 av. Denfert-Rochereau F-75014 Paris, France dESA SSA-NEO Coordination Centre, Largo Galileo Galilei, 1, 00044 Frascati (RM), Italy eJet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, 91109 CA, USA fUniversit´eCˆote d’Azur, Observatoire de la Cˆote d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Boulevard de l’Observatoire, Nice, France Abstract We present an updated set of near-Earth asteroids with a Yarkovsky-related semi- major axis drift detected from the orbital fit to the astrometry. We find 87 reliable detections after filtering for the signal-to-noise ratio of the Yarkovsky drift esti- mate and making sure the estimate is compatible with the physical properties of the analyzed object. Furthermore, we find a list of 24 marginally significant detec- tions, for which future astrometry could result in a Yarkovsky detection. A further outcome of the filtering procedure is a list of detections that we consider spurious because unrealistic or not explicable with the Yarkovsky effect. Among the smallest asteroids of our sample, we determined four detections of solar radiation pressure, in addition to the Yarkovsky effect. As the data volume increases in the near fu- ture, our goal is to develop methods to generate very long lists of asteroids with reliably detected Yarkovsky effect, with limited amounts of case by case specific adjustments. -
Photometric Survey of 67 Near-Earth Objects S
A&A 615, A127 (2018) Astronomy https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732154 & c ESO 2018 Astrophysics Photometric survey of 67 near-Earth objects S. Ieva1, E. Dotto1, E. Mazzotta Epifani1, D. Perna1,2, A. Rossi3, M. A. Barucci2, A. Di Paola1, R. Speziali1, M. Micheli1,4, E. Perozzi5, M. Lazzarin6, and I. Bertini6 1 INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected] 2 LESIA – Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France 3 IFAC – CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy 4 ESA SSA-NEO Coordination Centre„ Largo Galileo Galilei 1, 00044 Frascati (RM), Italy 5 Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Via del Politecnico 1, 00100 Rome, Italy 6 Department of Physics and Astronomy “Galileo Galilei”, University of Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy Received 23 October 2017 / Accepted 29 March 2018 ABSTRACT Context. The near-Earth object (NEO) population is a window into the original conditions of the protosolar nebula, and has the potential to provide a key pathway for the delivery of water and organics to the early Earth. In addition to delivering the crucial ingredients for life, NEOs can pose a serious hazard to humanity since they can impact the Earth. To properly quantify the impact risk, physical properties of the NEO population need to be studied. Unfortunately, NEOs have a great variation in terms of mitigation- relevant quantities (size, albedo, composition, etc.) and less than 15% of them have been characterized to date. -
Neodys (And Astdys and Priority List) Data Provision
NEODyS (and AstDyS and Priority List) Data Provision Fabrizio Bernardi CEO of SpaceDyS What is NEODyS • NEODyS is a web based service and stands for Near Earth Objects Dynamic Site: h@p://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys • NEODyS provides informaon on the IMPACT PROBABILITY of Near Earth Objects (NEOs), typically for an horizon of 100 years • The most important output is the Risk Page: h@p://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys2/index.php?pc=4.0 where a list of NEOs (459 on Nov 17th) with some chances of hing the Earth within the next century is posted for the public • Only JPL@NASA provides a similar service with SENTRY • NEODyS team has a technological leadership in Europe (and world) NEODyS background • NEODyS was born in 1999 at the Dep. of Mathemacs of the University of Pisa (Italy), within the CelesDal Mechanics Group (CMG) lead by Prof. Andrea Milani • The main moDvaon was the absence of a rigorous and systemac method for compuDng on a daily basis the probability that an asteroid is hing the Earth • The 1997XF11 case was a PR disaster, just for the lack of a well established system to perform such computaons NEODyS daily acDviDes • Since 1999 NEODyS is processing astrometric data of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) provided by the Minor Planet Center, the official enDty supported by the Internaonal Astronomical Union (IAU) that manages all the asteroids observaons and the official catalog of asteroids • The data are sent to NEODyS either by email or via web, through the Minor Planet Electronic Circulars (MPECs) • MPECs: – DOU à Daily Orbit Update: new observaons