Near-Earth Object (NEO) 163348

NASA announced that a giant asteroid is expected to pass Earth at a safe distance, today.

Do you remember Osiris-Rex spacecraft of NASA? It is the only spacecraft to touch an asteroid called ‘Bennu’. NASA has brought back comet dust and solar wind particles before, but never asteroid samples.

This makes it a landmark feat and thus a hotspot for UPSC prelims.

What are NEOs?

  • NASA defines NEOs as comets and asteroids nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits which allows them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood.
  • These objects are composed mostly of water ice with embedded dust particles.
  • NEOs occasionally approach close to the Earth as they orbit the Sun.
  • NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Study (CNEOS) determines the times and distances of these objects as and when their approach to the Earth is close.

Significances of NEOs

  • The scientific interest in comets and asteroids is largely due to their status as relatively unchanged remnant debris from the solar system formation process over 4.6 billion years ago.
  • Therefore, these NEOs offer scientists clues about the chemical mixture from the planets formed.
  • Significantly, among all the causes that will eventually cause the extinction of life on Earth, an asteroid hit is widely acknowledged as one of the likeliest.
  • Over the years, scientists have suggested different ways to ward off such a hit, such as blowing up the asteroid before it reaches Earth, or deflecting it off its Earth-bound course by hitting it with a spacecraft.

About 163348 (2002 NN4)

  • A Near-Earth Object (NEO), the asteroid is called 163348 (2002 NN4) and is classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).
  • Asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of about 0.05 (AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun and is roughly 150 million km) or less are considered PHAs.
  • This distance is about 7,480,000 km or less and an absolute magnitude (H) of 22 (smaller than about 150 m or 500 feet in diameter).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rise of Economic Nationalism

Image
“Globalization presumes sustained economic growth. Otherwise, the process loses its economic benefits and political support.” Paul Samuelson Context Guess what Corona virus pandemic did that even Soviet union could not? It has shown the world decaying of the capitalist system. Spread of the virus has lead to various forms of lock downs across the globe. This caused multiple problems in economic globalisation to erupt, which made each country look to the protection of its  “own” economy . Now this funda of “own” economy and local over global is what we will focus upon. So stay tuned. Is it the end of Globalization? One of the devastating impacts of Covid-19 will be that nations are going to look even more inwards. Rather than look beyond its borders, nations will focus on their narrowly-defined national interests. Reflecting on the debate on globalization, one may wonder whether the world was entering a new, uncharted territory or if Covid-19 was simply accelerating a push-back agai...
Read more

COVID-19 and its impact on Agriculture

Image
Farmers in India constantly battle against skewed monsoon and erratic rainfall, extreme natural events, interrupted supply chains and rising inflation. Like this was not enough. These troubles now are supplemented this year by the COVID induced lockdowns and the heralding Locusts Attack! God bless our Annadatas! Context The start of the coronavirus  pandemic has coincided with the peak harvesting season . As the markets are locked down, there is a threat to the crop in over 100 lakh hectares in the country. Even among the different segments, the impact varies widely among different regions and among producers and agricultural wage labourers. This impact will reverberate across the larger economy and will linger longer than a few months. Issues surfaced after COVID pandemic In spite of all the measures and in view of continuing restrictions on movements of people and vehicular traffic, concerns have been raised regarding negative implications of COVID19 pandemic on the farm economy....
Read more

Ambarnaya river Oil spill in Russia

Image
Russia has declared a state of emergency after a power plant fuel leak in its Arctic region caused 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to escape into a local river, turning its surface crimson red. Details of the spillage The Ambarnaya River, into which the oil has been discharged, is part of a network that flows into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean. The state-owned TASS news agency reported that the emergency measures were announced within Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Region, located in the vast and sparsely populated Siberian peninsula. How did the leak happen? The thermoelectric power plant at Norilsk is built on permafrost, which has weakened over the years owing to climate change. The power plant is located near the Region’s Norilsk city, around 3000 km northeast of Moscow. This caused the pillars that supported the plant’s fuel tank to sink. Around 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil was released into the Ambarnaya river, which has since drifted 12 km on its surface. What has Russia done so f...
Read more