An asteroid hunter explains how she’s protecting Earth from a killer space rock

From The Toronto Star

In the early hours of Oct. 6, 2008, the astronomers who study objects in Earth’s neighbourhood in the solar system made a startling discovery: One of those objects was going to hit Earth. In 12 hours.

Alerts were sent out to asteroid hunters around the globe, and dozens of observatories turned their telescopes to spot the swiftly approaching threat. Researchers at NASA calculated the impact site — the Nubian Desert in northern Sudan — and dispatched a fleet of airplanes to watch it fall. Fragments scattered across the desert. A professor from the University of Khartoum brought his students to search for the pieces. The rocks turned out to be a rare type of meteorite called ureilite, and they showed that the meteorite contained amino acids — important molecules for life.

Caltech astronomer Carrie Nugent says stories like this, recounted in her new book Asteroid Hunters, illustrate what makes asteroids so fascinating to study.

“They’re something you can see in a telescope and also hold in your hand as a meteorite,” Nugent said. “So, in some sense, we get a free sample return mission on some of these guys.”

Nugent works at the space telescope NEOWISE, which uses infrared sensors to search for dark, nearby objects. The team has found 34,000 near-Earth asteroids — with a closest approach taking them within 1.3 astronomical units of the sun. (An AU is the distance from the Earth to the sun, about 150 million kilometres.)

“Most astronomical work has to do with things that are very, very far away and don’t affect our lives very much,” Nugent said. “But asteroids, as you know, can come and hit Earth occasionally. So I think it’s important to find these objects so you can predict where they are going and potentially deflect one if we find one on the way to Earth.”

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/03/25/an-asteroid-hunter-on-protecting-earth-from-a-killer-space-rock.html

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