Another Close Call
28-Oct-2009
On October 8, an asteroid
exploded over Indonesia with the
force of a small atomic bomb. This is the same
day that earthquakes struck the area. The detonation took
place twelve miles up and caused no damage on the ground,
but had the object struck the surface it could have easily
obliterated
a city. Despite the fact that it was nine feet across, the
asteroid was not detected at all prior to its entry into our
atmosphere. Last week, another substantial asteroid flew past
us between the earth and the moon, and was not detected
until hours prior to its closest approach.
Since July, large impacts have been recorded on Jupiter, in
one of the rings of Saturn and possibly on Venus. The bright
area that appeared in Venusians clouds could have been
caused either by massive volcanism or an impact. Had the
object that struck Jupiter hit the earth, it would have caused
at least as much damage as the one that ended the dinosaur
era.
There is no evidence that these objects are part of any
known meteor swarm. The Orionids, which resulted from the
breakup of Halley's Comet, are not known to contain any
large objects. They were in progress at the time that the
asteroid exploded.
Last February, there was a
worldwide
rash of meteors large enough to generate fireballs, but
nothing on the scale of the Indonesian object.
This week, Anne Strieber will give subscribers something that
make you that may hit you with the impact of asteroid: She
will read the paper she gave at the recent
Stargate
Conference. Whether you were there (and want to hear it
again) and especially if you couldn't make it, this is something
you won't want to miss so
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today!
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