Simulate Asteroid Impact Anywhere on Earth
Simulate Asteroid Impact Anywhere on Earth https://asteroidday-uploads.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/21173111/Simulate-Asteroid-Impact-1.png 512 306 Asteroid Day https://asteroidday-uploads.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/21173111/Simulate-Asteroid-Impact-1.png
A new interactive asteroid simulator has been created to show the damage and consequences of an asteroid impact. The Asteroid Launcher website, developed by Neal Agarwal, allows you to choose between several types of minor planets as well as adjust their size, impact speed, angle, and location. The simulator UI shows not only the crater left behind but also the detrimental consequences of the impact-produced shock, sound, and heat waves.
If you’d like to find out what impact a famous event would have in your area, we have some references for you. The asteroid that caused the Chelyabinsk event almost 10 years ago exploded in the air. Let’s imagine an object like that was approaching your town. For that, choose an asteroid of about 20 meters in diameter, an angle of fewer than 20 degrees, and a speed of about 19 km/s.
You could also try and see what would’ve happened if the Tunguska impactor had reached the surface of our planet. It was a 50-100 meters celestial body that exploded in the atmosphere in 1908 after entering at an estimated speed of between 20 and 30 km/s.
Results according to a simulation made with a rocky asteroid impacting the Tunguska region, Siberia. The asteroid’s entry angle was set to 90 degrees.
You could also simulate the impact that occurred 66 million years ago on the Yucatan Peninsula and killed some 75 percent of life on Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs. For this, choose an asteroid of about 10 km, set the speed at about 20 km/s, and trajectory at an angle close to 60 degrees.
The results are based on asteroid information drawn from scientific publications, doctoral theses on asteroid impact risk, and a peer-reviewed model of population vulnerability from NASA, the University of Lancaster, and the University of Southampton.
Thanks to the layers of visualisation and simulation accuracy, this tool contributes to raising awareness of the asteroid threat. As Neal Agarwal, the interactive asteroid impact simulator creator, said to VICE: “I think the tool could also help people gain more appreciation for our need to deflect asteroids like in NASA’s DART mission.”
Also, try these other interactive impact simulators:
Impact: Earth!
Down2Earth
Killer Asteroids
