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Experts concerned after meteor hit in Vellore
Posted on: 08/Feb/2016 6:07:59 PM
Experts from all over the country have shown concern over the inability to track meteors and other foreign bodies hitting the Earth`s surface. The concern has come in the wake of a meteor strike in Vellore.
Says a former official of the DRDO, With the advancement of the technology like long range radars and telescopes, there has to be a way to pin down these burning objects penetrating through the atmosphere. The incidents of meteorites hitting the land seem to be on the rise. We can`t sit tight saying meteorites can`t be tracked when people are dying. A bigger meteorite can cause serious damage. I am sure organisations like ISRO and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) has the capability to develop a defence mechanism. NTRO has developed an anti-satellite mechanism where it can target and destroy space satellites in orbit. Why can`t we predict these objects and judge the velocity at which they are falling and where it would impact.
A meteorite hit Iran in July of 2015. In February of 2015, there was an impact in Kerala.
An associate professor of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru has said, Most meteoroids that enter the earth`s atmosphere are so small that they vaporise completely and never reach the planet`s surface. Unless we actually see the blast remains in Vellore and analyse the samples, we can`t confirm whether it`s a meteorite or any other object like satellite junk. There are many objects moving around in the space in the form of debris. If it a meteorite, it can reveal something about early solar system period, the chemical composition of plasma etc.
An astronomy educated said, I`m quite afraid about the consequences of the impact because even a 1 meter sized meteoroid releases huge amount of energy. The amount of energy released by an impact depends on the size of the impacting body and its velocity. An impact like the one that struck the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico about 65 million years ago, thought responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and numerous other species, created the Chicxulub Crater, 180 km in diameter and released energy equivalent to about 100 million megatons of TNT. In order to protect the Earth from such kind of impact, monitoring the asteroids and making predictions of possible impact is necessary, but it is difficult to predict meteoroid impacts due to its small size. We teach students about meteoroids and asteroids about its threat to our planet and we also conduct an Asteroid Search Campaign in India called All India Asteroid Search Campaign to the school students across pan India to discover asteroids.
A team from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on Bengaluru are scheduled to visit the recent meteoroid site. Says a source, The Indian Institute of Astrophysics is the designated agency to deal with meteoroids. A team will be arriving on Monday to inspect the scene. Experts from ISRO and Physical Research Lab from Ahmedabad visited the locality on Saturday night. They have collected a stone believed to be a piece of the meteorite. It will be handed over to the team visiting tomorrow.
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