2024-09-05 04:55:32
From Earth, we observe the Perseids, Lyrids and Aquariids – the remains of old asteroids or comets. But soon we could see the first man-made shooting stars.
Hardly a month of the year goes by without shooting stars. Now in September we observe the Alpha Aurigids, in October the Orionids and in December the Geminids dart across our night sky. Science knows of over 90 different meteor showers – the remains of old asteroids and comets. But soon the first man-made meteor shower could fall.
Scientists from the Polytechnic of Milan (Italy), led by space engineer Eloy Peña-Asensio, have calculated that the luminous streaks will be visible on Earth in about ten years for a duration of about 100 years. Their formation is spectacular and dates back to an explosion that occurred two years ago.
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On September 26, 2022, the NASA-ESA spacecraft Dart collided with the tiny asteroid Dimorphos. Dart was deliberately steered into the small celestial body at a speed of 22,000 kilometers per hour to test whether asteroids could be repelled in this way. In fact, the collision extended the orbit of Dimorphos around its larger companion asteroid Didymos by about 32 to 33 minutes.
But there was more to this collision. Around a million kilograms of rock and dust were thrown into space – enough material to fill ten railway carriages, according to NASA. The Milan researchers have now calculated that this debris could reach the vicinity of Mars in just seven years, and the vicinity of Earth in ten years at the earliest. There it could burn up in the atmosphere and become visible to us as shooting stars.
“This material could produce visible meteors as they penetrate the atmosphere,” Peña Asensio told CNN. “Once the first particles reach Mars or Earth, they could arrive at regular intervals for at least the next 100 years.”
Despite this prediction, Peña Asensio says there is no danger to the Earth. The individual fragments are no bigger than a smartphone, most of them are as small as grains of sand. They would burn up when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere: “There is no way that material from Dimorphos will reach the Earth’s surface,” says the expert.
The findings of the Milan researchers, who have submitted their study to “The Planetary Science Journal” for publication, are based, among other things, on data from a small satellite called Liciacube. It had separated from the Dart spacecraft shortly before the impact and had filmed the collision.