What are the possibilities that a meteor might hit earth?
A small, newly discovered asteroid has a one-in-500 chance of striking the Earth in 2030, scientists said, stressing that while the odds are slim, theyve never been worse. “This is the first time we have ever had a prediction of an impact at this high a probability level, but its still very unlikely,” said David Morrison, chairman of the International Astronomical Unions Working Group on Near-Earth Objects. Initial estimates peg the objects diameter at 98 to 230 feet (30 to 70 meters). The upper limit would mean the object merits careful monitoring, since it would be of a size that could cause considerable local damage were it to strike the Earth. Paul Chodas, the principal engineer in the Near-Earth Object Program office at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), estimates a one-in-500 chance it would collide with Earth on September 21, 2030.
Really good. Thousands of meteors, mostly tiny ones, the size of grains of sand, enter the atmosphere each day. Most of them burn up in the atmosphere, long before they actually reach the ground. The earth receives tons of meteor “dust” every day. When the meteors are large enough to survive their passage through the atmosphere, they fall to the ground or into the oceans, at which time they are called meteorites. Meteorites hit somewhere on earth every day. The smaller ones usually escape notice. Larger ones can produce sonic booms, trails of light and smoke, and craters in the ground. These may be found if there is someone nearby who takes notice and then works to locate where the meteorite fell. 70% of meteorites go into the oceans and are pretty much lost until someone figures out how to harvest them from the ocean bottom in the same way that they can be picked up on the ice in Antartica. The odds of you or your home or car being hit by a meteorite are extremely small. You’d win a l
Need a few definitions here… Meteoroid – A dust to boulder sized rock in interplanetary space, smaller than 50 meters in diameter (or 10 meters by another definition), but significantly larger than an atom (at least 100 micrometers generally). anything larger is considered an asteroid, and anything smaller is just interstellar dust. Meteor – The visible light event that is seen when a meteoroid impacts Earth’s atmosphere, sometimes called a shooting or falling star. It is caused by the high energy of the ram pressure of the meteoroid moving through the air (not friction). It can sometimes leave behind a visible ion trail that will last for awhile Meteorite – A meteoroid that has survived it’s trek through the atmosphere and has landed on Earth’s surface intact. Tektite – Often mistaken for meteorites, this is solidified molten rock that was splashed away from an impact event of a meteoroid. Meteoroids impact the Earth’s atmosphere constantly. They generally do no harm. A vast majorit
