Are we ready to face space Armageddon?

It was a chilly late November afternoon in 1954. A 34-year-old Ann Elizabeth Hodges was having a nap on a sofa in her Oak Grove home in Albama near Sylacauga. Suddenly, one small black rock slammed through her ceiling and fell on the radio before hitting her leg.

Astounded US Air force later confirmed the black rock to be meteor which eventually came to be known as Sylacauga meteorite.

But Ann was not the first person to be hit by alien object. One Italian manuscript stated that in one Milanese friar was killed by meteorite in 1677. One Ugandan boy was hit with tiny fragment of meteor in 1992.

Though incidence of individual humans getting hit by alien rocks is really very rare in recent times, but incidence of large scale of devastation brought in by marauding meteors is just too many in the history of the planet earth.

Sixty five million years ago 10-km-wide asteroid hit north of Yukatan peninsula unleashing chains environmental revolutions which ultimately drove dinosaurs to extinction.

In 1490 an asteroid broke over Chinese city of Chiling-yang driving 10,000 people to death. In 1908 a 50-metre-wide asteroid exploded over Siberia resulting deforestation of 2,000 square km area and death of thousands of animals.

Again another meteor exploded over Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, causing strong shockwave which in turn injured more than 100 people.

Australian engineer Michael Paine has shown through his simulation model that the planet earth has been hit by large alien rocks as many as 350 times causing drastic climate change such as ice age in the last 10,000 years.

He has predicted that the space rocks could cause death to as many as 13 million people, even inducing war and bringing famine in next 10,000 years.

Earth-hitting asteroids could trigger a tsunami as well if the meteor plunges into the ocean and Paine simulation has estimates of average 470,000 deaths per tsunami.

Ukrainian scientists have warned that an asteroid is on the way towards earth and it would hit the blue planet in 2032, though Nasa does not think it to be on collision course.

So how is the world gearing up to face this menace?

The present situation is such that no country could afford to ignore this peril and UN has constituted a global body christened as International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) involving the US, Russia, Germany, Holland, EU, Italy and International Astronomical Union (IAU) to co-ordinate and develop mitigation measure of ever growing dangers of asteroids.

Nasa's Near Earth Asteroid Tracking System is operational for last decade and now IAU's asteroid tracking satellite is very much in pipeline too.

But as the problem could hit any nation, there is urgent need for global co-operation. Other space powers like India, China, Japan, France, the UK are also being invited to IAWN. Other countries like Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Argentina are to be invited too.

Former astronaut Ed Lu rightly stated," Chelyabinsk was bad luck. If we get hit again 20 years from now, that is not bad luck-that's stupidity."

But despite all warning and tracking systems one big question still looms large. What would happen if suddenly one asteroid is seen rushing towards blue planet? Can we destroy it? Once Nasa's famous response was to pray.

The author is a senior journalist specialised in technology. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely his and not of Times of Oman.







Source: Times of Oman

Nasa's Curiosity rover finds large iron meteorite on Mars

The iron meteorite discovered by the Curiosity rover must once have been at the heart of a growing planet that was shattered aeons ago.

Meteorites like the one discovered by Curiosity are time capsules – often the fragments of doomed worlds from the beginning of our solar system. Photograph: Nasa/JPL-Caltech

The meteorite is made of iron and about 2 metres long, which is about the width of the Nasa rover that found it. It is the first meteorite that Curiosity has found on Mars. Scientists have named it Lebanon – presumably because of its shape.

Meteorites are lumps of rock and metal that fall from space and impact the surface of a planet. They are time capsules, usually representing the shattered fragments of doomed worlds from the beginning of our solar system.

Around 4.6bn years ago, the sun and planets of our solar system began to form. This involved the collision of various rocks and asteroids that melted together and gradually built the Earth, Mars and the other planets. Astronomers call this process "hot accretion". With the planets being molten, the heavy metals such as iron would sink towards the centre of each planet, while the lighter rocks would float to the surface and cool into the landforms.

As the planets grew in size, however, so the collisions between them tended to become more violent. Sometimes, the nascent worlds would be shattered rather than melted together. Iron meteorites come from the deep, core regions of these doomed planets.

According to the Nasa statement that accompanied the image, the cavities visible on this meteorite may once have been filled with olivine minerals. If so, that could indicate it hailed from a place near the core-mantle boundary in its parent world. This was where the iron core gave way to the rocks and minerals of the mantle region.

Although this is the first meteorite found by Curiosity, its predecessor rovers Spirit and Opportunity both found numerous smaller examples. The first meteorite on Mars was discovered by Opportunity in 2005, close to its landing site at Meridiani Planum. That too was an iron meteorite.

Meteorites may be common on Mars because there is very little atmosphere to weather them away. On Earth, meteorites survive for a few million years before being eroded away. On Mars, the weathering rate is probably a thousand times slower, so meteorites could last for billions of years. They would accumulate on the surface of the planet like flies on fly-paper.

A study performed by Bland and Smith in 2000 estimated that there could be between 500 and 500,000 meteorites with a mass greater than 10 grams for every square kilometre of Mars.

A meteorite geologist on Mars would have a field day. He or she could use this collection to check for changes in the flux of meteorites over the ages, or look for rare compositions. It is possible that meteorites blasted from the Earth’s surface could be lying on Mars, just as pieces of Mars have been found as meteorites on Earth.

Curiosity is almost two years into its mission. It is still en route to Mount Sharp, the shallow mountain it will attempt to ascend. Progress has been much slower than anticipated. Partly this is because the mission's geologists keep wanting to stop and investigate interesting looking rocks. And partly because the wheels of the rover are showing more damage that anyone expected.

It seems it's tough going when you off-road on Mars. But discoveries such as this meteorite make the journey as well as the destination worthwhile.

Stuart Clark is the author of Is there Life on Mars? (Quercus). Follow him on twitter as @DrStuClark




Source: .theguardian.com

Talisman made from a 9,000 year-old METEORITE found inside a prehistoric shaman's hut

Researchers in Poland have found a prehistoric meteorite in a hut

The 9,000 year-old object was believed to belong to a stone-age shaman

Found along with other objects associated with magic such as an amulet

The small meteorite was shaped into a cylindrical and porous object

And the researchers suggest the humans knew it fell from space

Archaeologists have found a meteorite fragment in a shaman's hut dating back 9,000 years that seems to have been worshipped as a magical object.

The talisman was found alongside other objects that were considered sacred at the time including an amulet and a stick made of antler.

It's thought it gained this status because the prehistoric stone age humans saw it fall from space, suggesting they may have known it came from another world.

A meteorite fragment from 9,000 years ago has been found by archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (IAE) in Szczecin, Poland. It's believed humans at the time were aware that it was from out of this world and worshipped it as a magical object

Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology in Szczecin, in north west Poland, found the meteorite fragment inside the caveman house by lake Swidwe in Western Pomerania during excavations. 

The object was a natural pyrite meteorite fragment, pyrite being an iron sulfide mineral often referred to as fool's gold owing to its yellowish appearance.

This meteorite, which measured eight by 5.3 by 3.5 centimetres (3.1 x 2.1 x 1.4 inches) has a cylindrical shape and was porous, with a corrugated surface on its side.

Of most interest, though, was that the rock appears to have been worshipped by humans at the time, and they were perhaps even aware that it did not originate on Earth.

'The meteorite was brought to the shelter as a special object, they seem to have recognised it was not of this world,' said head of research for the Institute, Tadeusz Galinski.

'The thing became an object of belief, and maybe even shamanic magic. 

'They may have realised it was different if it was spotted as it fell to earth, and would have been identified by the crater it made, and the heat it would have had from entering the earth's atmosphere.

'In addition, the side profile shape suggests various associations; the original finder millennia ago probably saw in it shapes of a mysterious world of spirits.'

The find was made inside a caveman house by lake Swidwe in Bolków, Western Pomerania during excavations. The object was a natural pyrite meteorite fragment, pyrite being a yellowish iron sulfide mineral often referred to as fool's gold owing to its yellowish appearance

He added that the fragment is 'surprisingly heavy' and that the discovery was the first of its kind in archaeology where a primitive people was known to have worshipped a heavenly object.

Along with the meteorite, the researchers also found other objects associated with magic, including an amulet, bone spear tip with engraved ornament and a magic stick made of antler, decorated with geometric motifs.

The meteorite was discovered last year but it is only now that the researchers have been able to determine what it was used for.

Along with the meteorite the researchers also found other objects associated with magic including an amulet, bone spear tip with engraved ornament and a magic stick made of antler, decorated with geometric motifs. This suggests it was once worshipped as a sacred object (illustration of a shaman shown)





Source: dailymail.co.uk

Archaeologists Say Cavemen Worshipped Meteorite After it Fell to Earth

A meteorite found in a 9,000-year-old hut believed to have belonged to a stone age shaman was probably worshipped by stone age man as a magical object.

Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology in Szczecin, in north west Poland, found the meteorite fragment inside the caveman house by lake Swidwe in Western Pomerania during excavations.

Head of research for the Institute, Tadeusz Galinski, told local media: "The meteorite was brought to the shelter as a special object, they seem to have recognised it was not of this world.

"The thing became an object of belief, and maybe even shamanic magic. They may have realised it was different if it was spotted as it fell to earth, and would have been identified by the crater it made, and the heat it would have had from entering the earth's atmosphere.

"In addition, the side profile shape suggests various associations; the original finder millennia ago probably saw in it shapes of a mysterious world of spirits," he added.

He added that the fragment is "surprisingly heavy" and that the discovery was the first of its kind in archaeology where a primitive people was known to have worshipped a heavenly object.

Along with the meteorite, the researchers also found other objects associated with magic, including an amulet, bone spear tip with engraved ornament and a magic stick made of antler, decorated with geometric motifs.

The meteorite was discovered last year but it is only now that the researchers have been able to determine what it was used for.


Source:   http://austriantimes.at/