How could an impact of a meteorite lead to a mass extinction?
As the asteroid enters the atmosphere, most of the asteroid burns up, super heating the hunk o' rock, so that when it comes in contact with the surface, it drastically changes the climate of the surface, something not many animals can survive. Even if they survive, the smoke will kill most of the survivors anyway. But, most of the aquatic animals will survive.
How can an asteroid attract another asteroid?
An asteroid can attract another asteroid through gravitational forces. Just like any two objects with mass, asteroids exert a gravitational pull on each other, causing them to be attracted to one another. The strength of this gravitational attraction depends on the masses of the asteroids and the distance between them.
What is the average speed of an asteroid?
The asteroid belt [See Link] is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.
Contrary to popular belief (helped by Hollywood and computer game manufacturers), the asteroid belt is mostly empty. The asteroids are spread over such a large area that it would be highly improbable to reach an asteroid without careful aiming.
The asteroid belt includes the dwarf planet Ceres [See Link].
It's impossible to give a precise distance, as the belt starts around the orbit of Mars [See Link] and continues up to Jupiter's. However the centre of the belt is approximately 2.7 AU (404 million km (251 million miles)) from the Sun.
Which two planets is the asteroid belt located in between?
Most of the asteroids within our solar system can be found within the Asteroid Belt. Located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the Asteroid Belt consists of millions of individual asteroids of varying sizes - from a speck of dust to hundreds of kilometers in diameter. The largest object within the belt is a dwarf planet - Ceres - which has a mass of 9.47x1020kg and a diameter of 476.2km.
What effect will a 65ft diameter asteroid have on earth if it does hit the earth?
It will create a crater similar to the Barringer crater (Meteor crater).
Where it actually hits will determine the overall destructive effect.
Will an asteroid hit earth in 2026?
Possibly; that's still 15 years in the future. At this point (in August, 2011) we have no knowledge of any particular asteroid that's heading this way.
However, the last time that an asteroid hit the Earth (in 2008) we first saw it about 16 HOURS before impact. This was a fantastic achievement, because scientists had NEVER seen an asteroid or meteoroid before impact before.
What countries are hit by asteroid?
Asteroids can potentially impact any country on Earth as they do not discriminate based on location. NASA and other space agencies constantly monitor near-Earth objects to assess potential impact risks and take necessary precautions to mitigate any threats.
Do asteroid and steroid have the same etymology?
Yes and no. They both derive from an Indo-European root ster-, but there seem to be three entirely different such roots. The first ster- means stiff or hard, and is the root of steroid. Ster- 2 means spread, and is the root of strew and straw. Ster-3 means star and is the root of star and asteroid.
What is the biggest asteroid ever recorded?
The solar system's biggest asteroid impact occured between July16 and 22 1994. More then 20 fragments of comet shoemaker-levy 9 collided with Jupiter. The 20 fragments left big bruises in the atmosphere.
Are globular clusters small asteroid-like bodies that formed the building blocks of the planets?
No, globular clusters are large groups of stars that formed together at the same time. They are much larger and contain thousands to millions of stars, unlike small asteroids, and were not the building blocks of planets.
What is an asteroid if it leaves its orbit?
An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the sun; if it leaves its orbit, it can potentially enter the Earth's atmosphere, becoming a meteor and potentially hitting the Earth's surface as a meteorite.
What is the most important defining property of Trojan asteroids?
Trojan asteroids are a group of asteroids that share the same orbit as a larger planet, located at stable Lagrange points ahead of or behind the planet. This unique orbital configuration is the most important defining property of Trojan asteroids.
Does a asteroid appear as a streak in the sky?
Yes, when an asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere and impacts the surface, it can create a streak of light known as a meteor. This occurs due to the asteroid burning up as it meets resistance from the atmosphere, causing it to produce a bright trail through the sky.
Is a comet smaller than asteroid?
An asteroid is basically a rock in space.
A meteor is basically a space rock falling into our atmosphere.
Therefore, meteors are asteroids that are falling into our atmosphere, there is no size comparison, only a location and action change.
What substances are in an asteroid?
Asteroids can be composed of various substances, including rock, metal, and sometimes ice. Some common elements found in asteroids include iron, nickel, silicate minerals, carbon, and water. The composition of an asteroid can vary depending on its location and history in the solar system.
Has the eath ever been hit by an astroind?
Yes, the Earth has been hit by asteroids in the past. These impacts have been responsible for mass extinction events and have left large impact craters on the Earth's surface. Fortunately, the likelihood of a large asteroid impact in the near future is low due to monitoring and detection efforts.
What feat did the spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker accomplish?
In 2001, the NEAR-Shoemaker space probe became the first unmanned probe to soft-land on an asteroid, although it was primarily designed to do its studies from orbit.
Launched in 1996, it orbited the near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros for about a year, and in February 2001 used the last of its propellant to soft-land on the asteroid. Since it was undamaged, it continued to perform surface studies until it was shut down, about two weeks later.
Why do the scientist think that the asteroid belt did not form a planet?
Jupiter's massive gravitational force, (along with Mars lesser gravitional force) prevented the asteroid belt from forming into a planet. Either that or it was a small planet (like Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) that was smashed to bits after a collision with a very large object and the bits eventually formed into the asteroid belt.
What two planets are asteroids between?
The asteroid belt is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
The four processes that change the surface of terrestrial planets - impact cratering, volcanism, tectonism, and erosion - can also affect the surfaces of asteroids. Asteroids can experience impacts that create craters, volcanic activity that reshapes their surfaces, tectonic movements that alter their terrain, and erosion processes that break down their surface materials. However, the intensity and frequency of these processes may vary due to the smaller size and different compositions of asteroids compared to terrestrial planets.
What is more likely to destroy the earth asteroids meteors or nukes?
In the short term, say, the next 100 years, we should worry much more about nuclear weapons. It is possible, but not very likely, that an asteroid will destroy mankind, or even cause serious damage, in the next 100 years.
What planet has an asteroid belt between it and jupiter?
The planet Mars orbits immediately closer to the Sun than the Asteroid Belt. The so-called "main belt" has many millions of asteroids, the remnants of a failed planetoid that might have formed between Mars and Jupiter.
Mars. The asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
How do astronomers use asteroids to estimate the age of the solar system?
Astronomers study the radioactive decay of elements within meteorites that come from asteroids. By analyzing the ratios of isotopes within these meteorites, scientists can measure the time since the Solar System formed, providing an estimate of its age. This approach helps to establish a timeline of the early events in our Solar System's history.
Is the asteroid belt located outside the solar system?
No, the asteroid belt is located within our solar system. It is a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where many small rocky bodies, known as asteroids, orbit the Sun.