A coder has created a site that simulates the impact of a meteorite on Earth and its consequences. You can vary the parameters according to the nature of the object and thus discover the damage that such an event would cause, if it were to happen. It can be terrifying and brings home the need for a planetary defense program. I simulated the impact of an asteroid one kilometer in diameter on the suburbs of New York.
One of the biggest space moments of 2022, and one that even went down in history, was the successful deflection test of a small asteroid – which did not threaten us – by means of a suicide bomber, Dart, which crashed on its surface. It was last September and its trajectory has indeed been (slightly) modified. Scientists continue to study the consequences of this deep impact in order to prepare us well, in the event of planetary threats…, like that suffered by the dinosaurs, and more than 70% of life on Earth, 66 million years ago. It was certainly a large object (perhaps a comet) with an estimated size of 10 kilometers in diameter whose risk of impact is estimated at one every 100 million years or so.
Dart Mission: Humanity has succeeded in deflecting an asteroid for the first time in its history!
So, no such threats on the horizon for now (and for at least centuries), but scientists are well aware that a small “accident” with a smaller body size can “quickly” happen. with, for damage, destruction on a regional scale. So that’s why a international planetary defense program was launched.
I simulated the impact of a mile-wide NEO on New York!
If you are curious to see what the fall of a big meteorite could do in your area, or any other of your choice, Neal Agarwal, “creative coder”, had fun creating a site that simulates impacts on Earth. To do well, it offers you to see what it would look like with different sizes and compositions of celestial objects, by varying the impact trajectories, the collision angles, and the speed of course. Because they do not all rush on our Planet at the same speed or from the same direction. Some meteorites can be more massive and dense as we have seen, while others are more porous, moreover the latter can explode and fragment in the sky at low altitude, while the larger ones, we imagine, form large craters several kilometers in diameter, accompanied by devastating shock waves that ravage everything in their path, for hundreds of kilometers around.
Does the experience tempt you? So, direction Asteroid Launcher. Each simulation details the damage: from the depth and diameter of the crater to the number of victims and injuries caused, and even at what distance from the impact your clothes would catch fire if this terrifying situation occurred!
Animation of the 14,000 asteroids identified by the first survey of the Gaia satellite. © ESA, Gaia, DPAC, CC BY SA 3.0 IGO
I simulated the fall of an asteroid one kilometer in diameter – like 2022 AP7, the “ planet killer » recently discoveredand which is added to the few 30,000 known NEOs to this day that regularly cut into Earth’s orbit – in suburban New York. With an angle of 29° and a speed of 21 km/s. Result: a crater of 12 kilometers (still!) and 619 meters deep. Our clothes would be on fire if we were there less than 110 kilometers from the impact! Formidable.
A large asteroid hurtling towards Europe could not be deflected…
Is such an assumption realistic? Yes, but it is quite rare, it must be emphasized. For the site, this would occur on average every 514,000 years. In any case, one thing is certain if this were to happen one day: Manhattan and its surroundings would be in a state of disrepair, because most of the buildings located within a perimeter of 212 kilometers around the impact would collapse. The victims would number in the millions. So, we understand why it was time for humanity to set up an ambitious program of planetary defense, so that this never happens and that no city or region is one day reduced to ashes. Although we can find Asteroid Launcher fun, this is not a game.