After The Fall

On February 15th the world was stunned and surprised by the news of a meteor strike over Russia. While it's true that meteors enter Earth's atmosphere everyday, one the size of the one that exploded over the Ural Mountains, happens only once a century.

The meteor struck the Earth's atmosphere at about 33,000 miles per hour, at an altitude of about 12 to 15 miles above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The object was estimated to be about 50ft in diameter and weighed an estimated 7,000 tons. The explosion, which created a shock wave that had the force of a 500 kiloton bomb, knocked out windows and crumbled a few walls. More than 1,000 people were injured by glass and flying debris.

Hours later, asteroid 2012 DA14 which is about twice the size of the Russian meteor, passed within 17,200 miles of the Earth. The two events were not related to each other, however, it tends to make one wonder, even if momentarily, about what is out there in the darkness of our own solar system that just might be headed our way.

It isn't known what if anything is planned in the event that something much larger than the Russian meteor or asteroid 2012 DA14, should be on a collision course with the Earth. At least it's good to know that someone is watching the skies and keeping track of anything that might prove to be a threat.

NASA's Near Earth Objects Program discovers and catalogs the various objects that are relatively close enough to the Earth that they may eventually make contact. Since 1994, some 9734 near Earth objects have been detected. Of those, 862 are asteroids. Of those asteroids, one in particular came to NASA's attention. In 1994, an asteroid named Apophis, which has been discovered to be about 1,066 feet wide, was calculated to contact the earth on April 13th 2029. However, further investigations led to the alternate date for an impact in 2036, but both dates have since been ruled out.

Humanity seemed to go about its daily existence until the 1980s when a giant crater was discovered off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Since then it is believed that a giant asteroid struck the Earth about 65 million years ago, bringing extinction to the dinosaurs. Concern began to grow over the possibility that such an event could also do the same to humanity. Gladly, we now possess the technology by which we are able to keep an eye on our surrounding universe, and hopefully, we will stand a much better chance.