June 30 - International Day of the Asteroid. This is a new international day, which was proclaimed at the UN General Assembly last December. On this day, 109 years ago, the Tunguska meteorite fell in Siberia, which led to a big explosion. The trees were felled over an area of about two thousand square kilometers, which is comparable to the territory of Tokyo. Asteroid Day is timed to coincide with this event.
This is not the only case when asteroids and other celestial bodies fell to Earth. This will definitely happen in the future. On the day of the asteroid, we should think about what could happen to us.
Queen guitarist Brian May, Ph. D. in astrophysics, and his friends in 2014 began to urge humanity to think about the problem. All over the world, people began to embrace this idea.
According to Professor Makoto Yoshikawa of the Japan Aerospace Agency, the Tunguska meteorite is 60 meters in diameter. Despite this, the collision energy is equal to about a thousand atomic explosions in Hiroshima.
About 16 thousand objects approaching the Earth have been discovered. Calculations of their trajectory showed that there is no danger of collision with the Earth. Almost all asteroids with a diameter of ten kilometers have been found. Such objects led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The problem is that only a few percent of asteroids have been discovered, which are comparable to the Tunguska meteorite. Therefore, at any moment there may be a danger of a collision with such an asteroid.
Films such as Abyssal Impact and Armageddon are about the dangers of Earth colliding with comets and asteroids. In these films, celestial bodies are destroyed with an atomic bomb before they collide with the Earth. Humanity survives.
Nevertheless, according to Professor Yoshikawa, such a danger is difficult to avoid, even if the object approaching the Earth is destroyed. It is impossible to control the trajectory of the asteroid debris falling, so they may eventually fall to Earth. In his opinion, the best method is to change the trajectory of a celestial body.
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The following methods are possible: detonate an atomic bomb near an object approaching the Earth, collide several research vehicles with a celestial body, and so on. Either way, international cooperation and good preparation are needed. First of all, it is important to detect an object approaching the Earth as soon as possible.
All over the world, the entire sky is being studied using large telescopes with a diameter of two meters.
Meanwhile, a Japanese Aerospace Agency team led by Chief Scientist Toshifumi Yanagisawa has developed a new method for detecting celestial bodies using a conventional telescope.
The starry sky is shot at a short shutter speed. Numerous images are superimposed on each other and studied. This makes it possible to detect objects approaching the Earth that are moving at high speed. This is more efficient than looking for celestial bodies with a large telescope.
In January this year, thanks to this method, two asteroids with a diameter of 50 and 30 meters were discovered. In Japan, this happened nine years after the last discovery.
In the future, Mr. Yanagisawa is counting on the help of lay astronomers. Japanese amateur astronomers have discovered many comets and supernovae. Awareness of the problem of collision of celestial bodies with the Earth should increase in Japan.