Why was the Russian Meteor was not predicted before it entered the Earth's Atmosphere?
Russia's Ural Mountains on 15th Feb 2013 on Friday, Every one who experienced this massive explosion in the cloud was surprised, as there was no predictive warning or information given about the asteroid arrival. The tremor shattered the window glasses into pieces and near Chelyabinsk, over hundreds buildings felt the seismic tremors caused by the meteor explosion, very few people understood that it was a huge meteor struck. Rest, were not sure if it was a plane crash or rocket explosion, It was later alerted that it was none other than this dangerous and unpredictable asteroid. Thousands were panicked and approximately 34 were injured (Guardian News_2013.02.15).
This asteroid was reported to be around 17 meters in diameter and approx. weighed 10,000 metric tons. The amount of energy released during the explosion is more than 470 kilotons of TNT, where as an atomic bomb explosion will be around 15-20 TNT. So you can imagine why this was such a huge explosion.
Scientists and Astronomer were not accurate in estimating the arrival of this huge asteroid. Usually the asteroids are easily detectable however, this asteroid is dark material, and it was not reflective, so this caused the major difficulty in spotting the details of this asteroid. As this object was the size of a bus or house.
The Astronomers measuring magnitude parameters depend on the brightness. So the more negative the magnitude the larger the size, so the more '-' values are detectable easily, Whereas if the more positive the magnitude then the smaller the size, so the more '+' values the less likely it could to visible through the best telescope.
The NASA experts where blown away and were shocked with this asteroid which struck Earth before it was even published. The impact of this asteroid was out of the blue, it directly came from the direction of sun. Where it was highly impossible for the telescope to capture.
Even with the largest telescopes in this world, a meteoroid would be visible when it reaches 135,000 km from Earth which is approximately 2 hrs. "It came from the asteroid belt, about 2.5 times farther from the sun than Earth " (Says Cooke, NASA).
 |
| Asteroid Exploded In Russian Sky Reference Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/across-the-universe/2013/feb/15/russian-meteorite-strike-highlights-asteroid-danger |
I was wondering if our scientists could see meteors in dark sky, how come they have not build a contrasting equipment which can view these objects in day light as well?
Well there were numerous questions raised and for these questions, now our scientists would have understood what is missing, and hopefully sooner they will rebuild equipment's which can trace objects approaching our Earth in daylight.
NOTE: "Its also a very good opportunity for Mobile Technologies to help everyone around the world by implementing a fast alert message system or communication system, where it would send an immediate alert to inform public about caution and personal safety measures. This could save many life's and make them be aware or prepare them for whats coming next. Few countries already have implemented this technology, but it is only for earthquake, it would be better if there is a way to detect these asteroid strikes too. So, Hoping for better future! ".
To know more click on below reference links:
- NASA SCIENCE: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/26feb_russianmeteor/
- NASA Blog: http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/Watch%20the%20Skies/posts/post_1361308690869.html
- YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qZ6oiaSm00
- The Guardian News:
