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Asteroid Missing

17 February 2023
Astronomy

At https://phys.org/news/2023-02-asteroid-scientists-rare-opportunity.html … the asteroid Apophis was the subject of Nicholas Costa’s book, Adam to Apophis, and its near fly by in 2029 and 2036, which seemed a long way in the future at the time.  Not so long to go now but NASA has confirmed there is no chance the asteroid will strike earth for at least another 100 years. It is on an interesting orbit. Its past history is something of a mystery. However, on Friday April 13th 2029, Apophis, an asteroid the size of 3 fooball fields, will pass close to earth. In astronomical terms, 19,000 miles away is a near miss. Rather than being fearful, astronomers are apparently getting excited at the prospect as they will get the opportunity of studying it up close. Investigation is the name of the game. OSIRUS REx, a spacecraft currently taking samples from asteroid Bennu way out in space, will afterwards rendevous with Apophis as it approaches the orbit of the earth. It will then become known as OSIRIS APophis EXplorer. It will again have the mission to take samples.

At https://phys.org/news/2023-02-chelyabinsk-decade-sun-invisible-asteroids.html … the 13,000 ton meteor came into view over the Ural Mountains in Russia and exploded over Chelyabinsk at an altitude of 30 km. Two minutes later the shock wave hit the ground and caused some damage to buildings, especially windows. In fact, broken glass caused quite a few injuries, a bit like a bomb in a built up area. It goes on to tell us about a new ESA project, the NEOMIR mission, designed to seek out meteors arriving from space behind the glare of the sun.

In the meantime, at https://www.academic.edu/53935542/ …. we have an article on the seismic impact of the Chelyabinsk atmospheric explosion – even though it happened quite high in the atmosphere. The shock wave caused a shaking of the ground over a large area, at a distance of 4000 km. It does not seem to have caused earthquakes.

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