Mars Asteroid Impact - 30th Jan 2008 - 1 in 28 Chance!
We are looking at the very real and exciting possibility that Mars will be impacted by Asteroid 2007 WD5
This asteroid is close to the calculated size of the object that created the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona USA aprox. 50,000 years ago.
The chances of a collision Jan. 30 between Mars and the 48 meter wide asteroid is aprox 3.6% (1 in 28), says Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
This may seem like a pretty slim chance but in planetary science terms this is like hitting the jackpot, with the usual odds being a million to one with a close pass of an asteroid to a planet.
Hurtling towards Mars at about 30,000 miles per hour (48,280 kph) we can only hope that it hits the red planet! Why do we hope it hits Mars you may ask?
Well, with the high level of surveillance currently on Mars this would offer a once in a lifetime opportunity to directly study the impact of an object like this on a rocky planet, something very relevant to us here on earth.
The last time earth was struck by an object this size was in 1908 explained here in a press release from the planetary society in 2002
Early in the morning of June 30, 1908, in the Tunguska region of Siberia about 1,000 km (600 miles) north of Irkutsk, an asteroid about 60 meters (200 ft) in diameter entered the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in an immense explosion, centered about 8 km (5 miles) above the forest below. Trees were flattened over an area about 50 km (30 miles) in diameter, several times larger than the area encircled by the Beltway around Washington, D.C. It exploded with energy in the range of a modern nuclear missile warhead, about 10 megatons, or about 500 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb
So you can imagine the effect on Mars with its Atmosphere at only 1% of that on earth.
The surface of Mars has a similar atmospheric pressure to that of the earth 12 miles or 19 Km up.
Thus unlike Tunguska it would not be an atmospheric explosion but one big impact on the surface or a series of impacts if it were to partially break up in the thin Martian atmosphere.
We wait in anticipation!
To see an excellent animation of the Asteroid entering the Martian atmosphere and striking the surface, featured on my blogpage and to discover heaps more hints, tips and little known secrets showing the fun and easy way to discover all the delights of the universe around us go to http://www.nightskysecrets.com You will also be able to download a f r e e copy of my audio “Night sky secrets revealed”.
Ian Maclean - Author, Presenter and Science Show host
Homepage: http://www.nightskysecrets.com