© NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed MartinBennu ejecting particles from its surface on Jan. 19, 2019.
Every day, thousands of small rocks — dust grain- to pebble-sized — cross paths with Earth's atmosphere and burn up. More organized collisions, known as meteor showers, are visible to us when the planet passes through whole clouds of rocky debris.
These fragments were long thought to come strictly from comets whose crusts had been heated by the Sun and cracked open. But early in 2019, NASA's
OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft (short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) captured
images from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu that flipped that line of thinking on its head.
The images showed small bits of rock launching off the asteroid's surface. Some of the rock fell back to the surface and some went into orbit around Bennu for several days, but
about 30 percent was ejected with enough speed that its pieces escaped the asteroid's gravity and began to orbit around the Sun."This was surprising," says Robert Melikyan, a graduate student at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. "Bennu doesn't have a lot of volatile material that can heat up and break up the way comets do."
Melikyan and a team of researchers modeled the evolution of the asteroid's dust cloud in a study
published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets earlier this year and
found that the particles both spread out around Bennu's orbit and follow a similar elliptical path around the Sun.
"Bennuid" meteor showersTo explain what was happening, scientists considered that the Sun also bakes Bennu's rocky surface much like it does a comet. The rocks there experience the full force of that heat for about two hours, then cool down as Bennu completes its rotation and faces the cold vacuum of space, says Melikyan.
This large range of temperatures is believed to cause stresses and fractures that break Bennu's rocks with enough force to eject some of them off the surface. In addition, scientists speculate that the very small grains of meteorites that hit the asteroid's surface on a regular basis and at high speeds also send many of these fractured pieces aloft.
"The chance that these particles will brush up against Earth's atmosphere is quite high [in the] next century when Bennu's orbit is predicted to be closer to Earth," Melikyan says. His team modeled Bennu's orbit to a high degree of accuracy for the years between 1788 and 2135. The simulation shows that the first particle will brush against Earth's atmosphere in the year 2101. Around 2130 and onwards, the model shows a significant increase in meteor showers, with the largest predicted to happen on September 24, 2182.
The authors of the study note that even the 2182 shower would be rather underwhelming, says Andrew Rivkin, a planetary astronomer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory who was not involved with the study. "However, the particles would be rather large compared to typical meteors, so they would probably produce impressive fireballs if they were observed," Rivkin says.
The best vantage point for the "2182 Melikyan Storm" (mark it in your calendar now!) will be from the southern region of South Africa, where a person might be able to see up to 140 meteors over a one-hour period, says Melikyan.
Near-Earth asteroid activityToday, the
Geminid and
Quadrantid meteor showers are the only major meteor showers that could potentially come from asteroids; it's possible that their sources are asteroid-like comets instead. "Astronomers have generally classified asteroids and comets as fundamentally different for most of the last few hundred years," Rivkin says. "But we've come to the realization over the past decade or so that at least some objects straddle the line between them."
Like Bennu,
other asteroids could cause meteor showers if they get close to the Sun, where temperature swings can break their rocks and form clouds of debris. Of course, the farther away asteroids are from Earth, the better. But if they do get close enough and eject small rocky materials, the resulting meteor showers could be a nice way to see material from asteroids that once orbited in the belt of space between Mars and Jupiter — or even beyond.
"The possibility for this type of activity on near-Earth asteroid Apophis during its close approach in 2029 could produce a very beautiful meteor shower," Melikyan says.
In the meantime, there's still a lot to learn about asteroids. "There is a lot of diversity in asteroids and unexpected processes going on that we don't fully understand," Rivkin says. "Learning that Bennu was ejecting material was a huge surprise, but we don't yet have enough data to know how common that behavior is."
Reader Comments
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The glass cover over the biggest piece of the Chelyabinsk meteorite just started floating above it - like it magically lifted off by perfectly even magnetic repulsion? Watch for yourselves. This is from December 18, 2019 in Newsweek!!! Read and watch it!!! SOTT, I suggest this article for y'all to post under Fire in the Sky? Mysteries? I don't know but this story damn sure surprised me. (If it's fake, I'm sure someone will advise., but it's still up at Newsweeik.) Thanks all!
R.C.
(I'm just commenting to get the PRB going on this article)
& Parz & All: Why do you think that this story was so buried that neither SOTT nor any other places we read never covered it? That part is strange. Really a cool video watching the people freaking out about it.
One of the articles said that the cover COULD be removed and/or is so as to clean it or whatever. I'd like to see how THAT's done.
RC
Dude, you are like a fat girl..
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I STILL don't know.
RC
Have you ever seen anything supernatural? Physically impossible? (Now, Graphically natural? I've seen way too many.) A UFO?
Me? Yep. One time in Hatteras in the summer of 76 or 77. It was going due west and looking like a geostationary satellite (all of which are perfectly westbound) and the second that I noticed it and directed my attention to it, thinking something like, "that doesn't look like the others at all . . " it jinked to from due west at ~ 1K mph to the NE and disappeared in about 1.5 seconds "as it drove out of sight."
RC
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RC
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While you were posting that, I was watching SH in Walk Like An Egyptian video. The vocals seemed to be not matched to the singer. She's a true honey who is probably as kind as she appears to be. Indeed, IMHO, musicians tend to present themselves far more as they are than actors.
RC
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"Today, physicist Eugene Bagashov concludes his remarkable three-part analysis of 'Oumuamua, the mysterious object which is thought to be our solar system's first interstellar traveler. In previous episodes, Eugene has explored several enigmas, including the puzzle of the object's mysterious acceleration as it moved away from the Sun. While this episode was in production, Eugene made a stunning discovery that may provide an essential pathway to understanding 'Oumuamua's trajectory. As Eugene explains, this discovery relates directly to measurements of the interstellar magnetic field."
RC
* Ya gotta love Russians not buying into the PC BS. Let's face it, women are more prone to panic than guys are. Sure there are exceptions and screaming soyboys, but whenever you see something weird or scary what is heard if there's a crowd? Women screaming.
RD
have any of the readers looked into Les Brown and his pyramid experiments ? it might help explain things.
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cheers
RC
As someone pointed out at one of those articles, it's not a dome, it's a clear pyramid. Any ideas on what was up there?
In case y'all missed it, RC
the pyramid shape and structure / grounding around the case combined together with whatever elements compose the meteorite combined to create the energy that Les Brown experienced. the energy gathered slowly to a peak and the cover lifted, then dissipated and lowered.
or someone had a high tensile extremely thin non reflecting cable attached to the apex and lifted it.
but i’ll stick with my initial theory.
Joe & Niall : good question for the C’s
RC - nope, never heard of this story before...the sith don't like the masses knowing about this energy.
I can only conclude that Kamilla is a horse .... See everything's crazy, the US officially had a horse as president for a few hours today
Do you remember the 'I'm in charge here." scandal? (Post Reagan shooting 1981 but I bet you know that. I think that you're a little younger than me (in my early 60s) but I forget the specifics. Plus, you're over there where y'all don't get the same focus that we get and vice versa. (Another example was how little attention I paid to the Falklands War. Me? I was still in the 'Thank God! We're not going to get drafted into Vietnam!" mode.)
RC
I could be wrong cause I'm typing all of this from memory without checking first.
As for Idioms, I'm sad because once my wife bought me an idiom dictionary, but I ruined the book inadvertently, and if I had it, I could probably look this up old-fashioned style. I did however purchase some big books from a friend including Webster's 3rd New International Unabridged - you would not believe just how many freaking words there are in the English language....still, a mans got to love idioms - don't you think?
-Ken
Wasn't there a list posted here with some specific names in this regard. I'm mean some of these old farts need to just die or if necessary be escorted to the gallows to receive their deserved fate called JUSTICE!
Peace is easy,
BK
I am done discussing teeth but it beats talking covid and vaccine mandates. Thanks all for the light relief.
Progress in Oz: on the 3/11 Dan Andrews premier of Victoria was served with criminal charges of treason and fraud. Since then every state politician in Vic. Has also been served. They have 7 days to reply or resign. Could be interesting days ahead. Thanks to Ricardo Bosi.
RC
Steely Dan: [Link]
I don't have any unopposed teeth just now, and of course if my premise above is correct, there is another variable at least for homo sapiens in the determination - you see it will matter when the tooth became unopposed. If it happened when young, then even longer in the tooth might one be versus others of the same age.
So, I could talk about this a bunch more and it is fun to chat and banter and such, and I'm glad there is opportunity for that - because you know, if we couldn't laugh, then it would be as if we weren't alive in the first place!
BK
Next, re your SD Can't Buy A Thrill, in ~ 5/78, we driving on the then still not completed I-10 from here to SoCal, listening to SD's then latest, The Royal Scam*(on cassette) along with all of their other stuff. Great trip. Record heat around death valley. Highs around 120. Hot. No AC. I was likewise out there when Aja came out. Their albums through Aja were top flight, and the later two? were great also.
Also, Supertramp, Crime of the Century; Joe Walsh, Eagles, the Who, the Stones, the Kinks, God, I'm thankful that I appreciated the time.
*Appropriately, given the topic, SWIM was doing our own version of Kid Charlemagne,
RC
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Neil Oliver: Will we remain silent while a dark tide slides ever closer to our own shores? [Link]
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Keep complying, idiots. [Link]
Ghost in the Cattic [Link]
RC
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Mass protest in Austria early today... Scroll down for some really hard hitting memes [Link]
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Netherlands Rotterdam [Link]
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Shit still gettin' real in France [Link]
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Disaster Battle, Bad Guys, Do You Belong Here? | S0 News Nov.19.2021 [Link]
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Short Film: "Résistance" [Link]
Instability, insecurity and endless misinformation is guaranteed to get a population whose been so massively misinformed demanding the authorities for a solution and guess what, they get one, but one that is far from necessary and massively detrimental to their welfare.
Generally, it's 'bat an eye' but I LOVE batter an eyelid!
RC
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"Author and engineer Andrew Hall explains how it’s all circuitry. Every feature points to the actions upstream in the current path. That is why the true creation story is knowable. The patterns remain that tell the story. Frequencies, harmonies, wavelengths and wave-guides. Shock waves are wave-guides. Everything is electric."
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Geoengineering Watch Global Alert News, November 20, 2021, #328 ( Dane Wigington ) [Link]
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"A majority percentage of populations continue to conform to all official dictates in the desperate attempt to get their lives back to the former "normal". How's that going so far? Though a now constant stream of dire and damning data is coming to light, the majority continue to ignore unwanted realities in exchange for mainstream media mass distraction and deception. Right on schedule the climate engineers are whipping up a winter weather whiplash event for some of the most populated regions in the US. Moisture picked up from the record warm Great Lakes will be the source for much of the chemically ice nulceated precipitation. Will the ever more extreme weather fluctuations finally cause more to question what is taking place in our skies? If the last two years seemed rough, what's coming will soon completely eclipse all former challenges. Will collapse be the catalyst that triggers the desperately needed change in human awareness? All are needed in the critical battle to wake populations to what is coming, we must make every day count. Share credible data from a credible source, make your voice heard. Awareness raising efforts can be carried out from your own home computer." Dane Wigington
RC
dart ... good grief.
how about Final Frontier Spacex or ffs for short.
thank you parz
RC
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Strange Winds Blowing Across the Earth [Link]
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Sun blocked out as 70km/h sandstorm hits San Juan, Argentina 🇦🇷 November 25 2021 Tormenta de Arena [Link]
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CME Coming, Quake Forecasting, Sun Disaster, Current Sheet | S0 News Nov.25.2021 [Link]
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WEF Warns: Global Warming to Disrupt Financial System, "Freeze" Bank Accounts [Link]
Tartarian Truthers || Episode 5 || Mudflood Australia - [Link]
Tartarian Truthers || Episode 6 || Gaols, Female Factories, Orphanages & Asylums - [Link]
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Makes one wonder ... was there a cycle 200 years ago with mass "FEMA" camps and "social services" taking control of all the children
RC
RC
How are you my lady?
As long as I'm on edit time, here's raccoon taxes: [Link]
And here's a nifty sad song by Van William or such. [Link]
Finally, I think I prefer my previous barred owl over my scary leopard seal. (I had the death scared out of my by a big old sea lion which popped up in the kelp bed where I was sitting. Was scary.
RC
I've gotta add, my kitty is snoring in my laundry basket which is amplifying that or I would not have even heard it. I love things good!
RC