OCTOBER23
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/great-pumpkin-asteroid-1.3287983
CBC News Technology & Science
By Sheena Goodyear, CBC News Posted: Oct 30, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 31, 2015 2:06 PM ET
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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the TB145 asteroid has a diameter of 400 metres, twice the size of the Rogers Centre in Toronto, and it's travelling through space at the dizzying speed of 35 kilometres per second.
But the more frightening part about the space rock, which has also been nicknamed "Spooky," is that we didn't even know it existed until Oct. 10 — not nearly enough time to stop it if it posed a threat — and we almost didn't spot it at all.
"The aim of what we're doing is to find big objects like this well in advance of when they might hit the Earth," says Richard Wainscoat, the principal investigator for Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, which first detected TB145.
Scientists already know the next space rock due this close to our planet will fly by in 2027. So how did we miss TB145 until now?
The Earth, the sun and most of the solar system's planets exist on what's called the ecliptic plane. Most of the asteroids that come anywhere near us also exist on that plane.
-- fly past Earth slightly farther out than the moon's orbit on Oct. 31 at 1:05 p.m. ET. (NASA)
"The majority of surveys and searches for this kind of object are closer to this ecliptic part of the sky," Wainscoat says. "We looked in a sort of slightly unusual direction. It sort of makes me think that maybe we should be spending a little bit more time looking more in some of these unusual directions, looking for other objects that might be like this."
According to the Canadian post-doctoral student who first spotted TB145 during a morning shift at Pan-STARRS, it's a matter of luck that it was detected at all.
"We don't cover the complete sky," Robert Weryk of London, Ont., says. "If we hadn't been looking there at the time, and no one else had seen it, then it could have gone right by the Earth without anyone noticing."
"It's not going to crash into the moon," Paul Chodas, head of NASA's Near Earth Object program. assures. "We checked that."
Nor will it crash into the Earth. And for that, we can thank our lucky stars.
The Halloween asteroid is 20 times bigger than the meteor that exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, injuring more than 1,000 people and blasting out windows across the city.
RUSSIA-METEORITE/
A policeman works near the point of impact of a meteor some 80 kilometres west of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15, 2013. The meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over central Russia sending fireballs crashing to Earth, which shattered windows and damaged buildings, injuring more than 1,000 people. (Chelyabinsk region Interior Ministry/Reuters)
If TB145 collided with the Earth, it would have the impact of 10 gigatonnes of TNT, says Wainscoat. "An unbelievable amount of energy, just complete devastation."
Our only recourse would be to figure out where it was going to hit and evacuate the impact area, says Chodas.
"Something that size would cause really continent-wide devastation, if it should hit a continent. Or if it hit the ocean, a pretty large tsunami."
How to fight an asteroid
If we detect an Earth-bound asteroid well ahead of time, Wainscoat says authorities have a few tricks up their sleeves.
"It can be thought of as one of the only kinds of natural disasters that we can actually do something about," he says.
Some of the possible game plans are surprisingly similar to the plot of Armageddon — except, (spoiler alert) we won't have to sacrifice Bruce Willis.
Pan-STARRS
The Pan-STARRS in Hawaii is one of the few telescopes in the world that monitors space for asteroids. It's how scientists discovered TB145. (Rob Ratkowski/University of Hawaii/Handout )
CBC News Technology & Science
By Sheena Goodyear, CBC News Posted: Oct 30, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 31, 2015 2:06 PM ET
Halloween asteroid will come within 500,000 km of the Earth 5:57
Big, speedy asteroid will make close flyby on Halloween
Dangerous meteors hit Earth way more often than thought
Exploding meteor over Russia injures more than 1,100
NASA space telescope rebooted as asteroid hunter
Asteroid dubbed 'The Beast' set to fly past Earth on Sunday
Dinosaur extinction was caused by asteroid and volcanoes, study says
NASA sets sights on Venus or bizarre asteroid for new mission
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the TB145 asteroid has a diameter of 400 metres, twice the size of the Rogers Centre in Toronto, and it's travelling through space at the dizzying speed of 35 kilometres per second.
But the more frightening part about the space rock, which has also been nicknamed "Spooky," is that we didn't even know it existed until Oct. 10 — not nearly enough time to stop it if it posed a threat — and we almost didn't spot it at all.
"The aim of what we're doing is to find big objects like this well in advance of when they might hit the Earth," says Richard Wainscoat, the principal investigator for Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, which first detected TB145.
Scientists already know the next space rock due this close to our planet will fly by in 2027. So how did we miss TB145 until now?
The Earth, the sun and most of the solar system's planets exist on what's called the ecliptic plane. Most of the asteroids that come anywhere near us also exist on that plane.
-- fly past Earth slightly farther out than the moon's orbit on Oct. 31 at 1:05 p.m. ET. (NASA)
"The majority of surveys and searches for this kind of object are closer to this ecliptic part of the sky," Wainscoat says. "We looked in a sort of slightly unusual direction. It sort of makes me think that maybe we should be spending a little bit more time looking more in some of these unusual directions, looking for other objects that might be like this."
According to the Canadian post-doctoral student who first spotted TB145 during a morning shift at Pan-STARRS, it's a matter of luck that it was detected at all.
"We don't cover the complete sky," Robert Weryk of London, Ont., says. "If we hadn't been looking there at the time, and no one else had seen it, then it could have gone right by the Earth without anyone noticing."
"It's not going to crash into the moon," Paul Chodas, head of NASA's Near Earth Object program. assures. "We checked that."
Nor will it crash into the Earth. And for that, we can thank our lucky stars.
The Halloween asteroid is 20 times bigger than the meteor that exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, injuring more than 1,000 people and blasting out windows across the city.
RUSSIA-METEORITE/
A policeman works near the point of impact of a meteor some 80 kilometres west of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15, 2013. The meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over central Russia sending fireballs crashing to Earth, which shattered windows and damaged buildings, injuring more than 1,000 people. (Chelyabinsk region Interior Ministry/Reuters)
If TB145 collided with the Earth, it would have the impact of 10 gigatonnes of TNT, says Wainscoat. "An unbelievable amount of energy, just complete devastation."
Our only recourse would be to figure out where it was going to hit and evacuate the impact area, says Chodas.
"Something that size would cause really continent-wide devastation, if it should hit a continent. Or if it hit the ocean, a pretty large tsunami."
How to fight an asteroid
If we detect an Earth-bound asteroid well ahead of time, Wainscoat says authorities have a few tricks up their sleeves.
"It can be thought of as one of the only kinds of natural disasters that we can actually do something about," he says.
Some of the possible game plans are surprisingly similar to the plot of Armageddon — except, (spoiler alert) we won't have to sacrifice Bruce Willis.
Pan-STARRS
The Pan-STARRS in Hawaii is one of the few telescopes in the world that monitors space for asteroids. It's how scientists discovered TB145. (Rob Ratkowski/University of Hawaii/Handout )
