PLANET SEARCH
FUTURES:
Winner of Sir Arthur Clarke Award for 'Best Written
Presentation', 2005
Space
Debris - Asteroids 
I am a member of Spaceguard UK, an organisation which is dedicated to informing
the public about the very real possibility that the Earth will ~ as it
has been millions of times in the past ~ be hit by an asteroid or comet
large enough to destroy a major city.
|
This would have a massive impact on our planet, creating a kind of 'nuclear winter', disrupting all our weather and climatic patterns and thus the way of life to which humanity has become accustomed. Whether this would be a totally "Bad Thing" is up to the individual to decide... Despite the fictitious portrayals of this scenario in many books (notably by Arthur C Clarke and Larry Niven, amongst others) and in recent films such as Deep Impact and Armageddon, this is not science fiction. The only question is not "whether' but "WHEN?" will this happen, and... "Can we do anything about it?" |
|
| I have produced a number of paintings over the years which feature asteroids and impacts. Right is the primordial Earth, which, like its Moon, was peppered constantly with bodies of all sizes. But the Earth shows few craters today, because of the action of its air, water and volcanic activity, while the Moon still bears its scars for anyone with a telescope to see. | ) |
About 65 million years ago, a relatively late impact may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, like T-rex (left). Perhaps due to the nuclear winter effect, perhaps because of associated massive volcanic activity sparked by this event. There is no reason why an even later impact should not cause the extinction of the human race ~ except, of course, human ingenuity. |
) |
|
Unfortunately, governments are notorious for leaving the necessary action ~ as in the case of Global Warming ~ too late...
|
|
|
Most of the asteroids lie in fairly clearly defined belts, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They are, however, sufficiently far apart that it would be rare to see one asteroid from another ~ unlike the desnsely-packed belts seen in movies like Star Wars! Right: Hidalgo, whose orbit carries it within 1AU (astronomical unit: the distance from Earth to the Sun) of Jupiter. |
) |
| While this Amor asteroid passes just below the southern polar cap of Mars. | ) |
| Asteroids which cross Earth's orbit are known as Apollo asteroids, and these are of course the ones which are likely to pose a problem. This one approaches Earth and Moon from a Sunward direction ~ | ) |
|
but most will come from beyond the orbit of Earth, and thus may obtain a view like this, in which Earth eclipses the Sun, and its dense atmosphere forms a 'ring of fire' around its disc. (This and the previous image were produced digitally.) |
) |
| A dark, carbonaceous asteroid ~ on collision course? | ) |
| The favoured defence from an asteroid, at present, is to detonate a nuclear device, which could easily be launched with current technology ~ not to attempt to destroy it, which could merely shatter it into many fragments, each of which could do damage, but to deflect it into a harmless orbit, away from Earth (digital). | ) |
| If the asteroid gets through, as did the one on the Yucatan Peninsula which may have decimated the dinosaurs, the view from space will be like this (digital). | ) |
Meanwhile, there is a real need for an international surveillance network to discover, observe and follow up the study of Near Earth Objects (NEOs). This is where Spaceguard UK is trying to help. You can contact them at the link here. |
|
Tel/Fax:
0121 777 1802 (intl: +44 -0)