Debris from an impact between the DART probe (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) JAR and the asteroid Dimporphos in 2022 will reach Earth by 2022. 13 years oldgenerating the first star shower caused by humans.
This meteor shower actually These are small meteorssome like a baseball (7.5 centimeters in diameter), which could hurtle and disintegrate on the field. Earth’s atmospherepotentially observably.
In a recent study, the scientist Eloy Peña-Asensiofrom the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology of the Polytechnic of Milan, explained that the results of their analysis indicate the possibility that the ejected debris reached the “gravitational field» from Mars in “13 Years”.
In turn, the asteroid’s remains could reach speeds of around 450 m/s, while the fastest ejecta would have been launched at 770 m/swhich could reach the vicinity of March in fair seven years. Likewise, the scientist wanted to emphasize the following: “Particles that move at more than 1.5 km/s they could reach the Earth-Moon system on a similar timescale. “If that happens, we would be the first to witness an artificial meteor shower.”
Due to this event, the ESA (European Space Agency) will send a new probe called next October Hera to conduct a detailed investigation of the impact site, as data on the mass, structure and composition of the asteroid will be collected to transform this impact into a planetary defense technique.
“The DART impact offers a unique opportunity to study the arrival of ejecta on other celestial bodies, thanks to the fact that we know the location of the impact since this impact was observed by the Italian cube LICIAcube deployed from DART, as well as by ground observers,” explains co-author and ESA Hera mission scientist. Michael Kueppers.
Although, despite a possible meteor shower, the DART mission showed that it was possible divert the trajectory of an asteroid and completely change course. This advancement constitutes an important step in planetary defensebut it also opens new questions about the fate of debris generated by the impact.
We sent a probe to an asteroid to learn more about Earth’s defense: Some tiny debris particles could give us a meteor shower in 2031.
details: https://t.co/uulzNoi5b7
video: Makes Observatory, @that pic.twitter.com/afHrczE1wn– Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) September 8, 2024
Meteor observation will be crucial
On the other hand, one of the warnings that Eloy wanted to emphasize in his study is that the observation of meteorites and asteroids will be a crucial element in determining whether fragments, in this case Dimorphosresulting from the DART impact, will reach our planet.
Whether the meteoroids head toward Earth or Mars will depend on their position in DART’s conical impact column: the material of their north side is more likely to move towards Marchwhile materials from the southwest are more likely to reach Earth.
In any case, it seems that only the smallest particles are likely to reach Earth, since they would have been launched at the highest speeds. Likewise, the asteroid is large enough to produce observable meteors, so it will be essential to continue monitoring the night sky.
