Asteroids and the return of the gods

Earth's various space agencies are collecting samples - from our moon to the asteroid belt.
As well are many fascinating meteorite discoveries.

"Asteroids are minor planets, especially of the inner Solar System. Larger asteroids have also been called planetoids. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not resolve into a disc in a telescope and was not observed to have characteristics of an active comet such as a tail.

"Millions of asteroids exist, many are shattered remnants of planetesimals, bodies within the young Sun's solar nebula that never grew large enough to become planets.[2] The vast majority of known asteroids orbit within the main asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, or are co-orbital with Jupiter (the Jupiter trojans)."
[link to en.wikipedia.org (secure)]

Let's have a closer look, shall we?

Japan's 200 million mile Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Ryugu
[link to www.cnet.com (secure)]

Results of Hayabusa2 mission

"Scientists from the Japanese Space Agency have found that both the surface of Ryugu and its interior have been heated to 300 degrees C. The subsoil cannot be heated by our star alone, so researchers suggest that billions of years ago the asteroid collided with another celestial body or while being part of a larger planetoid it received heat from it."
[link to curiosmos.com (secure)]

From a meteorite perspective..

"This meteorite is the oldest magmatic rock analysed to date and sheds light on the formation of the primordial crusts that covered the oldest protoplanets," the researchers wrote in their paper.

Because chondritic bodies are so common in the Solar System, it's possible that the formation of protoplanets with andesite crusts was also common. However, when the team compared the spectral characteristics of EC 002 - that is, the way it interacts with light - with the spectral characteristics of asteroids, they could find nothing in the Solar System that matched the meteorite.

Andesitic crustal remains are not only rare in the meteorite record; they are also rare in the asteroid belt. Which raises the question: if the formation process was so simple and common, then where the heck did all the differentiated protoplanets get to?"
[link to www.sciencealert.com (secure)]

"For the first time in 30 years, a meteorite has been recovered in the UK after landing in the driveway of a house in Gloucestershire," the Natural History Museum in London said in a statement Tuesday. The museum called the carbonaceous chondrite meteorite "astonishingly rare" and said it will give scientists a glimpse into the early solar system dating back to 4.6 billion years ago.

The rare meteorite left Natural History Museum researcher Sara Russell "speechless with excitement." Nearly 10.6 ounces (300 grams) of the space rock have been recovered on the ground so far, giving scientists a tremendous amount of material to study. Russell said the fragments look like material collected by the Hayabusa2 and Osiris-Rex space missions."
[link to www.msn.com (secure)]

"Bennu is an active asteroid, sporadically emitting plumes of particles and rocks as large as 10 cm (3.9 in), (not dust, defined as tens of micrometers). Scientists hypothesize the releases may be caused by thermal fracturing, volatile release through dehydration of phyllosilicates, pockets of subsurface water, and/or meteoroid impacts."
[link to www.ucf.edu (secure)]

Apophis - Lord of Chaos (Apophis is the Greek name of Apep, an enemy of the Ancient Egyptian sun-god Ra)

Apophis returns on April 13th, Friday, in 2029 - just 8 years out.

At the very minimum I'm expecting a spectacular light show as the rock will pass just 31,000 km from earth's surface during a New Moon. The New Moon is always positioned between the sun and us. Did you know the moon has a long tail that we pass through once a month?
[link to www.livescience.com (secure)]

This proposed light show, might it include the moon's sodium tail? And how many people on our planet might this phenomenon spook?

Thread: Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)

Last Edited by Serpentine Green on 03/16/2021 08:00 PM