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asteroid crashes into Earth

Leo in the press that on Monday, 2 March, a giant asteroid "brushed" (Sic ) Earth. Leaving the holder informs us that at 13:44 GMT on that day the asteroid 2009 DD45 , with an estimated size between 21 and 47 meters passed at a distance of 72,000 kilometers of land area, one-fifth the distance that separates us from the moon. A relieved sigh after the last danger remember how occasionally arise in news and media and how for at least a few minutes the shirt body separates us from the chill, not in vain for 65 million years, owners of the planet, dinosaurs suffered apparently final death blow that dropped off the face of the Earth the hands of a meteorite. Besides the Hollywood cinema, with films like Deep Impact or Armageddon has scared us with the devastating effects of the fall of an asteroid on the planet.

What is truth in these apocalyptic visions?, Let's recap on the subject.

asteroids belong to category astronomical small bodies in the Solar System (2006) and are small rocky bodies (including a few meters and hundreds of kilometers) that orbit the Sun, most of which are between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. However there is a group them whose orbits are close to or intersect with our planet, are called NEAs (near Earth asteroids = near-Earth asteroids ), which concerned astronomers for the possibility of a clash between these and the surface Earth and within the PHAs (Potentially Hazardous Asteroids = potentially hazardous asteroids) that they tend to bring our orbit below 0.05 Astronomical Units (7,480,000 km) and more than 150 m. At present the NASA recognizes 1035 of these objects and their number increases every year because we must keep in mind that given its size are hard to detect, in fact was discovered in 2009 DD45 on 27 February. It is known that throughout Earth history have hit many asteroids and comets against it as the aforementioned 65 million years ago but none has been described by eyewitnesses. Astronomers have developed a scale similar to measures the magnitude of earthquakes, call us Scale Turin (Torino Scale), that 1 to 10 measures the combined effects of the probability of an asteroid collision or comet with the kinetic energy it takes (proportional to its mass and its velocity) so that gives us a measure of the dangerousness of the object and its destructive capability. NEA today no more than level 1, although one of them 9942 Apophis 2004 MN4 provisonalmente grew to a higher value (there is another scale called Palermo Scale more complex). Right now NASA aims more potential danger to the asteroid 2007 VK184 , which assigns a value of 1 for his approach to Earth in 2048 (level 1 = collision probabilities are extremely low and do not deserve much attention and concern among people) , although we must bear in mind that as I said many of the NEOs (near Earth objetcs = near-Earth objects, including the NEA [asteroids] and NEC [comets close] ) are detected at short notice to their approach, hence the uncertainty of the danger.

To make a long post I leave a interesting article on the consequences of impacts of asteroids and a fragment of the film Deep Impact (1998) to illustrate (and a card musical part of the soundtrack, by James Horner ).