Potentially Dangerous Asteroids

Despite the fact that the danger emanating from asteroids is estimated in the planetary sense as not serious (the creators of Armageddon or Chelyabinsk citizens, of course, argue with this), NASA still tracks the trajectories of a number of large celestial bodies, although it complains about the lack financing.

Asteroids are observed according to the following principles: if the object is or will be located at a distance of less than 7.4 million kilometers (4.6 million miles) and whose diameter exceeds 100 meters (350 feet), the agency classifies it as a “potentially dangerous object” (potentially hazardous objects - PHO). If it turns out that it is a solid (in other words, an asteroid), then the object is reclassified as a “potentially dangerous asteroid” (Potentially Hazardous Asteroids - PHA) and is included in the list of continuous observation. Although this list (you can look at it here ; you can also see 3D visualization of the trajectories there) is limited by NASA's financial capabilities, at the moment it includes 1397 positions.

The picture in the heading of the post shows a reduced version of the graphic image prepared by NASA engineers for a visual representation of what exactly one has to deal with in the process of tracking an asteroid threat. The complexity of technical measures is becoming more tangible for taxpayers and the realization that the Earth has been lucky for the last couple of thousand years is more pronounced.

Under the cutter is a jpg-version of the circuit measuring 3254 x 2613 pixels and a link to a full-weight TIFF image of 25.52 Mb.


Original link.



Full-res TIFF

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