Asteroid day, yes there is such a thing, occurs on June 30* each year (the day o

Question

Asteroid day, yes there is such a thing, occurs on June 30* each year (the day of the Tunguska impact). There is even a webpage for this:httastcroiddayorg. Go yea to this web site and use the information available there to complete the following action items Action item I: what are the important orbital characteristics of Apollo and Amor near earth asteroids? Apollo Amor Action item 2: How does the Torino Scale quantify the asteroid impact hazard? Action item 3: Pick an impact crater, any impact crater anywhere on Earth. Describe the characteristies of the crater location, size, age, shape and any other interesting characteristics. In this case try the website: http:OmpacKarebsatfilms cont Name Action item 4. Briefly describe how the orbit of an asteroid heading straight for the Earth might be changed or deflected (in this case go back to the Asteroid Day web page)

Explanation / Answer

Action item 1:

Apollo: The Apollo asteroids are near earth asteroids whose orbit crosses Earth's orbit as observed from the ecliptic pole of Earth's orbit. They have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth (> 1 AU) but perihelion distances less than the Earth's aphelion distance (< 1.017 AU)

Amor: The Amor asteroids are the near-Earth asteroids whose orbits do not cross Earth's orbits. To be considered an Amor asteroid, an asteroid must come within 0.30 AU of Earth's orbit but must not cross Earth's orbit.

Action Item 2:

The Torino Scale which is used to categorize asteroid impact hazard employs an integer scale from 0 to 10. The 0 on the scale indicates an object has a very small chance of collision with the Earth. The 10 on the scale indicates that a collision is certain, and the impacting object is large enough to cause a global disaster upon impact. Also, note that the Torino Scale is defined only for potential impacts within100 years in the future.

Action Item 3:

Choose the Sudbury Crater located in Ontario, Canada. The coordinates of the crater is 46.6 degree N and 81.18 degrees West. It is one of the oldest and the second-largest known impact crater on Earth. The full extent of the Sudbury Basin is 62 km but it is believed to be a smaller portion of a 250 km round crater that the impact with asteroid had originally created.

Its age is 1849 million years.

Action Item 4:

One can send missiles to impact the asteroids before they are close to Earth. This will fragment the asteroids and their trajectory will change.

Another possibility to avoid the asteroid hitting the earth is to send a heavy enough spacecraft to land on an asteroid before they are close to Earth. The space craft's weight and gravity will deviate the trajectory of the asteroid from hurling towards Earth.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.