© Eduard KalininA hole blasted through the ice of Lake Chebarkul, southwest of Chelyabinsk, Russia, by a meteorite.
When an asteroid
exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, shattering windows for miles and injuring well over 1,000 people, experts said it was a rare event - of a magnitude that might occur only once every 100 to 200 years, on average.
But now a team of scientists is suggesting that the Earth is vulnerable to many more Chelyabinsk-size space rocks than was previously thought. In research being published Wednesday by the journal
Nature, they estimate that such strikes could occur as often as every decade or two.
The prospect "really makes a lot of people uncomfortable," said
Peter G. Brown, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Western Ontario and an author of the
two studies in
Nature. A third paper by other scientists describing the Chelyabinsk explosion was published online this week by the journal
Science.
The findings are helping to elevate the topic of planetary defense - identifying dangerous asteroids and deflecting them if necessary - from Hollywood fantasy to real-world concern.
Comment: Recently, The New York Times published an article about our scientists underestimating the meteorite threat. We say that it's an understatement of the century, but that's beside the point. Just read the Comets and Catastrophe series to learn more. What is interesting, is that on the same date beside the mentioned article, the above article about the satellite threat was also displayed on the main page of the newspaper. And while it may give the untrained eye an impression that everything is under control, and that even if there are problems, at least the authorities take responsibility and devise possible ways to deal with potential cosmic threats, in reality it couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, we may be dealing with more lies and obfuscation.
It is certainly possible that in this particular case there is indeed a falling satellite, but the chances are that there is a possible cosmic threat they can't really cover up (remember the "uncontrolled entries"?), so they try to at least contain and manage the potential backlash from the public. Perception management, ladies and gentlemen, that's what they are after. So, get comfortable and prepare for the show.
Also read the following articles:
Disguising celestial intentions: 'Chinese space debris collides with Russian satellite'
'Experts' say fireball with 'glowing train of fire' seen from Canada to Georgia on Sunday was 'probably a falling satellite'
Propaganda Alert! Defunct Russian satellite to ram into Earth again
These Pesky Cometary...err...Satellite Fragments: Space Station's Orbit Raised to Avoid Collision with Space Junk