Asteroid-impact Software Shows Where It Hurts
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 08.18.07
Move over global warming, this could be the planet's biggest "heads-up" of all - researchers at the University of Southampton recently unveiled a software modelling program that is able to evaluate the potential catastrophic consequences of a small asteroid impacting the earth - and it is showing that the possibility is not that far off the map.
Called NEOimpactor, the software has been specifically designed to model asteroid impacts, allowing scientists to gauge the impact of "small" asteroids - "small" meaning under one kilometre in diameter. Preliminary results point toward the ten countries at greatest risk are China, Indonesia, India, Japan, the United States, the Philippines, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Nigeria.
“The threat of the Earth being hit by an asteroid is increasingly being accepted as the single greatest natural disaster hazard faced by humanity,” said Nick Bailey, one of the researchers developing the software.
“The consequences for human populations and infrastructure as a result of an impact are enormous,” continues Bailey. “Nearly one hundred years ago a remote region near the Tunguska River witnessed the largest asteroid impact event in living memory when a relatively small object (approximately 50 metres in diameter) exploded in mid-air.”
According to Wikipedia: "Asteroids with a 1 kilometer diameter hit the Earth a few times in each million year interval. Large collisions with 5 kilometer objects happen approximately once every ten million years. In 1908, the Tunguska explosion, equivalent to 20 megatons of TNT, was caused by an ~20 m object. Small collisions, equivalent to a thousand tons of TNT, occur a few times each month."
Since 1998, a catalogue of all near-earth asteroids (NEA) larger than one kilometre has been compiled by the international Spaceguard survey – however, it is smaller, undetected and more frequently-occurring asteroids under one kilometre in diameter which pose an equally-great risk.
Bailey emphasized that the aim was to study the effect of these smaller asteroids on global economies, infrastructure and human casualties and how to begin tackling it. “Our results highlight those countries that face the greatest risk from this most global of natural hazards and thus indicate which nations need to be involved in mitigating the threat.” Now if that doesn't get everyone to sit down and cooperate, we don't know what will.
::Science Daily
Image credit: NASA
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Thats an impressive image, but that appears to be roughly 500 miles wide, or about 800 kilometers. So, thats 800X larger than those talked about in the story.
I wish an asteroid would hit the software company responsible for that.
hahahahhahahaha nasa1 - good one :).
Coincidentally, I watched Deep Impact last night, missed the end, but I assume humanity survived :).
Still, the Tunguska event was pretty freaky, especially given how small the object was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event
.. sort of drives home the point that we aren't the ultimate power in the universe.
Why? You want to be hit by an asteroid? What's with you?
lol stopped reading right after "ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA"
der der derrr
This is all fine and great, but it really doesn't say much or anything about the software, how it worked or the actual results that it provided. It's just another yadda, yadda, asteroids in space, send up a small triangle that can shoot white lines, 'editorial'.
And for info on the other huge risks, most of which are man-caused, I recommend visiting the Lifeboat Foundation.
The asteroid in that picture would split the earth in half. Lets get real here graphics people.
We should get off this planet ASAP, it's too unreliable...
asteroid strikes causing a kiloton (hiroshima bomb was 7kt) explosion happen 'a few times per month'? where? you think those would be pretty newsworthy events, yet in my 33 years of life i don't remember a single report. you would think one would have hit a populated area by now.
The only real solution to the threats of asteroids is the Global Asteroid Protection Society (stoprocks.com). The international space community is not prepared for a threat and currently our technology is lacking. Take a look and see for yourself.