Asteroid DD45 grazes Earth | ||||
2009 DD45, near-Earth asteroid sending us a sign | Automatic translation | Updated June 01, 2013 | ||
The interplanetary space is far from empty, it is littered with dust and material dating from the creation of the solar system. Asteroids and comets, metal and rock, traveling at a tremendous pace around the planets and our Sun. Sometimes their orbits intersect that of a planet or the Earth causing a collision. Meteorites and comets pounded the planet since the birth of the solar system. Although they seem quietly installed on their orbits between Mars and Jupiter, they are sometimes destructive and they must likely the emergence of life on Earth. The asteroids are our closest neighbors, they are in one way or another, linked to our destiny. Those who operate near the Earth and that cross our orbit are called Near Earth Objects (ECA), the Earth-Crossing Asteroids English. | On Monday, March 2, 2009 at 13:44 UTC, the asteroid 2009 DD45 passed very close to 63 500 km of the Earth, which corresponds to 0.00048 AU (Symbol: UA) The mean distance from Earth to the Sun. a AU is 149,597,871 km. It is a unit often used for distances in the solar system, or the distance between two stars in a dual system. . Image: picture of artist. | |||
No fear for 2009 DD45 | ||||
2009 DD45 rose above the Pacific Ocean to the west of Tahiti. Its small size was safe in a collision with our planet. Timothy Spahr of the Minor Planet Center has quickly confirmed that the subject would be increased to 0.00047 astronomical units from the center of the Earth. Up to 60 meters in diameter, an asteroid enters the atmosphere at an angle of incidence too low, a few degrees, for example, failed to pass through the atmosphere and causes no harm. | It is currently estimated at one chance in 45 000 probability that this rock come crashing into the Pacific Ocean April 13, 2036. Image: The Meteor Crater in Arizona, measuring 1 500 m in diameter, it dates from 49 000 years. The estimated diameter of the meteorite is 75 meters. |