{"id":5444,"date":"2013-11-27T20:57:30","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T20:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5444"},"modified":"2013-11-27T20:57:30","modified_gmt":"2013-11-27T20:57:30","slug":"video-novas-asteroid-doomsday-or-payday-background-on-the-chelyabinsk-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5444","title":{"rendered":"Video: NOVA&#8217;s &#8220;Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday&#8221; + Background on the Chelyabinsk research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sandia.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sandia National Laboratories<\/a>\u00a0released this item about work done by one of its researchers on the Chelyabinsk meteor fireball. His work was included in a recent NOVA episode <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/nova\/earth\/asteroid-doomsday.html\">Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/share.sandia.gov\/news\/resources\/news_releases\/boslough_asteriod\/#.UpZKsdJDttA\" target=\"_d\">Physicist\u2019s journey reveals smaller asteroids could cause bigger problems<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. \u2014 Once in a lifetime, a physicist may get a chance to test his theories and simulations in a real-life event that changes the course of his scientific life. But rarely does that opportunity literally fall from the sky.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"Chelyabinsk sky rendering by SandiaLabs, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/sandialabs\/10710138235\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Chelyabinsk sky rendering\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3725\/10710138235_7af2f51e41_n.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"208\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>The asteroid that fell to earth near Chelyabinsk, Russia,\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\n<em>gave scientists new insights into the risks of \u00a0<\/em><em>smaller<br \/>\nasteroid impacts.\u00a0(Simulation by Mark Boslough; <\/em><br \/>\n<em>rendering by Brad Carvey.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the impact of the Feb. 15 asteroid that burst over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Sandia physicist Mark Boslough, subject of a TV documentary that airs tonight and co-author of a recent cover story in Nature about the asteroid fireball that injured about 1,500 people and damaged more than 7,000 buildings, collapsing roofs and breaking thousands of windows.<\/p>\n<p>Boslough\u2019s journey to Russia shortly after the impact is chronicled in the NOVA episode \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/nova\/earth\/asteroid-doomsday.html\">Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday<\/a>,\u201d which will air on Public Broadcasting Service stations [on Nov. 20, 2013].<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/video.pbs.org\/viralplayer\/2365124688\" height=\"376\" width=\"512\" seamless=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>The complete NOVA program <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/nova\/earth\/asteroid-doomsday.html\">Asteroid; Doomsday or Payday<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The show focuses on the destructive potential of asteroids, chronicling how Boslough and his colleagues learn that small asteroids can do far more damage than previously thought. The Nature paper also suggests that there may be more small asteroids than formerly thought.<\/p>\n<p>The day the asteroid hit, Boslough learned of the event via Facebook from posts of Russian news stories and YouTube videos showing an object that exploded in the Russian sky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw it on Facebook long before the sound wave had even arrived in this part of the world,\u201d Boslough said, estimating the transglobal sound wave took more than seven hours to reach New Mexico. \u201cI really didn\u2019t expect to experience this in my lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As one of the first scientists to visit Chelyabinsk after the asteroid struck, Boslough set out to discover where the object came from. Because it came down near a populated area, he and his colleagues were able to collect videos from people who caught the asteroid on film and video, especially the ubiquitous Russian dashboard cameras, a staple in establishing blame in traffic mishaps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis event was certainly one of the best-documented asteroid events ever,\u201d said Boslough.<\/p>\n<p>Boslough\u2019s goal was to perform stellar calculations of the asteroid\u2019s trajectory by visiting \u2014 at night when the stars shone \u2014 the exact spots where the footage was recorded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the stars show up on the digital camera, we can get those angles and then calibrate that image that was taken from the dash cam, and know exactly the angles to the trajectory of the fireball,\u201d he said in the documentary. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a very precise trajectory as it streaked through the atmosphere, so we can backtrack that to get the orbit, the pre-impact orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The program also discusses how asteroids can contain rare and valuable elements, leading researchers to seriously evaluate the benefit of harvesting them for their rare elements.<\/p>\n<p>But Boslough also wants the research community to pay more attention to the potential risk that asteroids present.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf something like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/share.sandia.gov\/news\/resources\/releases\/2007\/asteroid.html\">the Tunguska event of 1908<\/a>\u00a0happened now, it could kill hundreds of thousands or even a million people, if it happened right over a big city,\u201d he said in the documentary. \u201cAn asteroid has more damage potential on the ground than a nuclear bomb of the same energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boslough was part of a team of 33 researchers who completed the study featured in Nature. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nature\/journal\/v503\/n7475\/full\/nature12741.html\">A 500-kiloton airburst over Chelyabinsk and an enhanced hazard from small impactors<\/a>\u201d examines the characteristics of the fireball. Boslough and his colleagues also used the simulations to help design the journal\u2019s cover.<\/p>\n<p>You also can see an animated\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/risk-of-massive-asteroid-strike-underestimated-1.14114\">simulation<\/a>\u00a0of the airburst produced by Boslough, as well as scientific animations and images by\u00a0Sandia contractor and visual effect expert\u00a0Brad Carvey\u00a0and visual effect expert Andrea Carvey. Sandia\u2019s Laboratory Directed Research &amp; Development program funded the simulations.<\/p>\n<p>Using data collected from his visit shortly after the asteroid struck, along with data from an international team, Boslough developed several additional simulations that he and other researchers have used to model the explosion and estimate the force of the blast.<\/p>\n<p>The paper\u2019s authors performed a global survey of airbursts of a kiloton or more and found that the number of building-sized objects may be 10 times greater than estimates based on other methods.<\/p>\n<p>The authors, led by Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario, estimated the Chelyabinsk event was equivalent to an explosion of about 500 kilotons of TNT. At its peak, the airburst appeared to be 30 times brighter than the sun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the frequency of a strike of an asteroid of this size has exceeded expectations, with three such strikes in just over a century (Chelyabinsk, Tunguska and a large airburst in the South Atlantic in 1963 detected by infrasound), the number of similar-sized asteroids capable of causing damage may be greater than suspected,\u201d Boslough said.<\/p>\n<p>Dick Spalding of Sandia\u2019s Nonproliferation Technologies Research and Development Department also co-authored the paper.<\/p>\n<p>The authors also showed that previous models for estimating airburst damage do not match the observations.<\/p>\n<p>An earlier paper by Boslough highlights the conclusion that most airbursts are more damaging than previously thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really have to rethink the risk from airbursts. Chelyabinsk was unusual due to the a low inclination at which it entered the atmosphere, but 90 percent of objects enter the atmosphere at a steeper angle and cause more damage on the surface,\u201d Boslough said. That paper, which he wrote two years ago, was recently published online in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0094576513003500\">Acta Astronautica<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Chelyabinsk fireball is something those who saw it will never forget, and neither will Boslough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s amazing to me though, when you think about it, this is part of an asteroid that had been, floating through space, orbiting the sun for billions of years\u201d he said\u00a0for the documentary in a late February interview. \u201cAnd two weeks ago, it exploded in the atmosphere, dropped to the ground, and here I am holding it in my hand! That\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>View\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/share.sandia.gov\/news\/resources\/news_releases\/images\/2013_video\/Chelyabinsk_3D_wake_sim_Zoom_2013-9551P.mov\">two<\/a>\u00a0airburst\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/share.sandia.gov\/news\/resources\/news_releases\/images\/2013_video\/Chelyabinsk_3D_wake_sim_2013-9551P.mov\">simulations<\/a>\u00a0or see photos at Sandia\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/flic.kr\/s\/aHsjM2CjCW\">asteroid airburst Flickr set<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., for the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&amp;D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sandia National Laboratories\u00a0released this item about work done by one of its researchers on the Chelyabinsk meteor fireball. His work was included in a recent NOVA episode Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday. Physicist\u2019s journey reveals smaller asteroids could cause bigger problems ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. \u2014 Once in a lifetime, a physicist may get a chance to test &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5444\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Video: NOVA&#8217;s &#8220;Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday&#8221; + Background on the Chelyabinsk research<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,12,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asteroids","category-astronomy","category-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-1pO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":678,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=678","url_meta":{"origin":5444,"position":0},"title":"More on Asteroid 2014 DA14 and the Chelyabinsk meteor","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA's Asteroids and Comets web site has a lot of good info about both the flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14 and the meteor fireball over central Russian. * NASA - Asteroid 2012 DA14 as Seen from Siding Spring, Australia: * Near-Earth Asteroid Makes Preview Appearance -\u00a0 a report and another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"728241main_pia16737-226[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/728241main_pia16737-2261.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5214,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5214","url_meta":{"origin":5444,"position":1},"title":"Chelyabinsk fireball &#8211; bigger than thought and more common","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Papers this week in Science and Nature journals describe studies of the Chelyabinsk meteor fireball last February. One paper estimates that the meteoroid was twice as massive as originally estimated. A Science paper combines Chelyabinsk with the\u00a0Tunguska event in Siberia in 1908 to estimate that the rate of such impacts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/IPH9OUNUalA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1222,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=1222","url_meta":{"origin":5444,"position":2},"title":"Comparing two famous near earth asteroids","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The B612 Foundation points to an illustration by space artist Michael Carroll that gets across the scale of the meteoroid that blew up over Chelyabinsk, Russia on February 15th and the asteroid 2012 DA14 that passed near earth later that same day: So how big are these NEOs anyway? -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Education&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":663,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=663","url_meta":{"origin":5444,"position":3},"title":"Update on the Russian meteor fireball event","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are some more articles and resources about the meteor event over Russia today: Spaceweather.com\u00a0 - Feb.15.13 Meteor Infographic Chelyabinsk: What, Exactly, Just Happened? - PJ Media Russian Fireball Is Biggest Meteor Blast in 100 Years - Space.com Satellite watches from space as meteor explodes - NBC News Nuclear-like in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/KOPjfrkLslI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":686,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=686","url_meta":{"origin":5444,"position":4},"title":"Virtual Space TV 3D &#8211; February 2013","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We have posted the February episode of the Virtual SpaceTV 3D series. These are created by BINARY SPACE with story content from HobbySpace.com. In this new show, Amanda Bush and James C. Birk talk about asteroids, asteroids and asteroids... 00:00 - 02:26 Asteroid 2012 DA14 02:27 - 03:25 Meteor Shower\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/fJgGeNYM4QE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2052,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2052","url_meta":{"origin":5444,"position":5},"title":"Nine year old wins contest to name OSIRIS-REx target asteroid","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission will take off in 2016 on a mission to visit the near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid (101955) . It will grab a sample of the object and bring it back to earth for analysis. The name 101955 is, to say the least, a bit boring. So\u00a0the University of Arizona\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contests and Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Contests and Games","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5444"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5446,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444\/revisions\/5446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}