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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Holy Crap!!: Asteroid Detonates Above Indonesia and No One Saw It


Did you know on October 8th, 2009 an asteroid exploded, releasing about 3x the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, high in the atmosphere above Indonesia?


No? It's because literally no one saw it coming.

About 15-20 kilometers into the atmosphere, the explosion caused no damage on Earth, but witnesses could see a dust trail consistent with asteroid explosion. Nuclear explosion instruments around the world picked up the infrasound waves that resulted from the release of energy. The object is estimated to be about 10 meters across, as calculated by its energy output. No telescope saw it and that typically telescopes don't normally pick up objects less than a 100meters across-- only a small fraction of cataloged objects fit this description. However, it can take as little as 20-30 meter diameter object to cause major damage on Earth.

Ultimately, in order to find smaller objects we have to build larger, more powerful telescopes--a multibillion dollar endeavor. I think I'd rather spend a billion plus dollars than get squashed by a giant flying rock.



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