Saturday, February 18, 2023 01:20 am
But how did no one spot the 60-foot-wide (19-meter) meteor heading straight for us? Experts say the answer is that it was hidden by the glare of our sun.
Perhaps worse, it won’t be the only one, as experts warn that an “unknown” number of space rocks might be heading for Earth undetected.
“Asteroids the size of the Chelyabinsk meteorite hit Earth approximately every 50-100 years,” warned Richard Moisel, head of planetary defense at the European Space Agency.
Injuries from airbursts or similar events might be prevented if people were informed regarding an upcoming impact and its expected effects, so the question now is how can astronomers spot these “invisible” asteroids lurking in the sun’s glare?
The European Space Agency is set to launch its orbiting NEOMIR (Near-Earth Object Mission in Infrared) observatory later this decade, which will serve as an early warning system to detect and monitor any asteroid approaching Earth from the direction of the sun.
The infrared telescope will be able to detect asteroids as wide as 65 feet (20 meters).
“ESA’s next Neumaier mission will detect asteroids like Chelyabinsk coming from the same region in the sky as the Sun, filling a vital gap in our current capabilities to predict and plan for hazardous impacts,” Moesel added.
The space agency admits that there is a possibility that an asteroid larger than NEOMIR can detect will collide with Earth, but such a scenario is less likely. This is because the larger the asteroid, the fewer there are in the solar system and the easier it is to detect.
Source: Technology News: “Daily Mail”: A report warns of invisible asteroids that might hit Earth at any moment
Related news: