Space Events

Death by Meteorite?

For the first time in recorded history, a meteorite is reported to have killed a person.

The incident happened Saturday (Feb. 6) when an object, thought to be a meteorite, hit a college campus in Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. The impact killed a man and injured three others.

Officials found a 4-feet-deep (1.2 meters) crater in the ground that contained "bluish black" rock fragments.

The force of the impact broke windows in neighbouring classrooms and cars, and prompted college officials to cancel classes until Wednesday (Feb. 10).

Space Events

NASA Opens Armageddon Office

NASA has just launched a new office aimed at protecting the planet from potential doomsday asteroids.

The Planetary Defense Coordination Office will oversee all of the space agency's efforts to detect and track near-earth objects, and coordinate with other federal agencies as well as other nations if and when it becomes necessary.

NASA has been stepping up its efforts to protect the planet from a devastating impact, most recently teaming up with the National Nuclear Security Administration to work on a plan to use nuclear weapons to deflect an asteroid.

If the agency and other international organizations aren't able to deflect the celestial body, NASA said the new department could work to prepare people on Earth by alerting those in the potential impact zone and assisting emergency response agencies such as FEMA.

Space Events

Taurid Meteor Shower

Stargazers should be on the lookout for meteorites and fireballs crossing the night skies from 5 - 12 November 2015, as the annual Taurid meteor shower will be at its peak during this time.

The American Meteor Society says that this week, especially, the cosmic fireballs set to shoot past the Earth will be one of the Universe's most dramatic meteor displays.

Stargazers can expect two distinct peaks of activity - for the southern Taurids shower the peak period has been outlined between 5 and 12 November, while for the Northern Taurids Shower spikes in activity can be seen until the end of November.

Space Events

Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseid meteor shower -- an annual display of natural fireworks -- should be particularly spectacular this year, with extra-dark skies expected to create optimal stargazing conditions, astronomers said Friday.

When the celestial show hits its peak overnight Wednesday next week, up to 100 shooting stars per hour will streak across the sky for a spectacle visible around the globe.

Space Events

Comet

NASA released this photo of the Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) taken on April 10 by the Hubble Space Telescope, when it was slightly closer to the Earth than Jupiter. The nucleus of comet itself is only 3-4 miles in diameter but the dusty head of the comet is about 3,100 miles across. The current dust trail is 57,000 miles long, but will increase in size as it approaches the sun as frozen gases will be released. This comet could actually outshine the moon as it approaches the sun, getting closest on November 28 this year.

Space Events

Asteroid

The chunk of space rock, about 50 metres wide, will give us such a near miss that it will skim our planet inside the geosynchronous orbits of many TV and communications satellites on 15 February.

And despite its small size, it will become visible to amateur astronomers in binoculars and small telescopes, with its rapid motion across the starry background, covering an area of sky greater than the apparent width of the Moon every minute, being quite obvious.

 

The asteroid, which was discovered last year, is labelled 2012 DA14 and is known as a Near-Earth Object because its orbit makes it a potential impact threat at some time in its history. Fortunately, it will not hit us this time or at any date in the predictable future.

Although the asteroid is small, if it were on a collision course with Earth, it would produce the equivalent of 2.5 megatons of TNT.

In December, a larger 5 km-wide asteroid called Toutatis sped by us at a distance of 7 million km and was imaged by Chaina's Chang'e 2 space probe and by radar by radio telescopes on Earth.

Space Events

The Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak during the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 17-20.

Leonids are spawned by the comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years, it rounds the Sun and then goes back to the outer solar system. On each passage across Earth's orbit, Tempel-Tuttle lays down another trail of debris.

To see the Leonids, lie outside in a dark place between midnight and dawn. Point your feet east and look carefully.