[meteorite-list] Asteroid Monitored from Outer Space to Ground Impact (2008 TC3)

From: lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:05:58 -0700 (MST)
Message-ID: <93f4b93667fe9f15aa8a3b48dacb794e.squirrel_at_webmail1.lpl.arizona.edu>

Hi all:

I know that Rich Kolwalski slept through most of the initial excitement
after he reported the discovery of 2008 TC3 to the Minor Planet Center,
but I would not consider him automated!

Larry

>
>
> Public Affairs
> Sandia National Laboratories
>
> Media contact:
> Neal Singer, (505) 845-7078
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 25, 2009
>
> We saw it coming: Asteroid monitored from outer space to ground impact
>
> Sandians Mark Boslough and Dick Spalding watch it in real time
>
> ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Reports by scientists of meteorites striking Earth in
> the past have resembled police reports of so many muggings -- the
> offenders
> came out of nowhere and then disappeared into the crowd, making it
> difficult
> to get more than very basic facts.
>
> Now an international research team has been able to identify an asteroid
> in
> space before it entered Earth's atmosphere, enabling computers to
> determine
> its area of origin in the solar system as well as predict the arrival time
> and location on Earth of its shattered surviving parts.
>
> "I would say that this work demonstrates, for the first time, the ability
> of
> astronomers to discover and predict the impact of a space object," says
> Sandia National Laboratories researcher Mark Boslough, a member of the
> research team.
>
> Perhaps more importantly, the event tested the ability of society to
> respond
> very quickly to a predicted impact, says Boslough. "In this case, it was
> never a threat, so the response was scientific. Had it been deemed a
> threat
> -- a larger asteroid that would explode over a populated area -- an alert
> could have been issued in time that could potentially save lives by
> evacuating the danger zone or instructing people to take cover."
>
> The profusion of information in this case also helps meteoriticists learn
> the orbits of parent bodies that yield various types of meteorites.
>
> Such knowledge could help future space missions explore or even mine the
> asteroids in Earth-crossing orbits, Boslough says.
>
> The four-meter-diameter asteroid, called 2008 TC3, was initially sighted
> by
> the automated Catalina Sky Survey telescope at Mount Lemmon, Ariz., on
> Oct.
> 6. Numerous observatories, alerted to the invader, then imaged the object.
> Computations correctly predicted impact would occur 19 hours after
> discovery
> in the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan.
>
> According to NASA's Near Earth Object program, "A spectacular fireball lit
> up the predawn sky above Northern Sudan on October 7, 2008."
>
> A wide variety of analyses were performed while the asteroid was en route
> and after its surviving pieces were located by meteorite hunters in an
> intense search.
>
> Researchers, listed in the paper describing this work in the March 26
> issue
> of the journal Nature, range from the SETI Institute, the University of
> Khartoum, Juba University (Sudan), Sandia, Caltech, NASA Johnson Space
> Center and NASA Ames, to other universities in the U.S., Canada, Ireland,
> England, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.
>
> Sandia researcher Dick Spalding interpreted recorded data about the
> atmospheric fireball, and Boslough estimated the aerodynamic pressure and
> strength of the asteroid based on the estimated burst altitude of 36
> kilometers.
>
> Searchers have recovered 47 meteorites so far -- offshoots from the
> disintegrating asteroid, mostly immolated by its encounter with
> atmospheric
> friction -- with a total mass of 3.95 kilograms.
>
> The analyzed material showed carbon-rich materials not yet represented in
> meteorite collections, indicating that fragile materials still unknown may
> account for some asteroid classes. Such meteorites are less likely to
> survive due to destruction upon entry and weathering once they land on
> Earth's surface.
>
> "Chunks of iron and hard rock last longer and are easier to find than
> clumps
> of soft carbonaceous materials," says Boslough.
>
> "We knew that locating an incoming object while still in space could be
> done, but it had never actually been demonstrated until now," says
> Boslough.
> "In this post-rational age where scientific explanations and computer
> models
> are often derided as 'only theories,' it is nice to have a demonstration
> like this."
>
> Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a
> Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National
> Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque,
> N.M.,
> and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national
> security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic
> competitiveness.
>
> IMAGE CAPTIONS:
>
> [Image 1:
> http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2009/images/asteroid_boslough.jpg
> (4.7MB)]
> Don't look back -- it may be gaining on you: Sandia's Mark Boslough
> discusses aspects of asteroids (Photo by Randy Montoya)
>
> [Image 2:
> http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2009/images/asteroid_spalding.jpg
> (1.5MB)]
> Dick Spalding examines the night sky (Photo by Randy Montoya)
>
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Received on Thu 26 Mar 2009 08:05:58 PM PDT